The Escort
by Zosie
Summary: Isabella needs a new escort now her current one, Jacob Black, has retired from the business to marry.  Edward Cullen needs a lot of money, quickly.  Maybe this is just the career to get him what he needs. M.  Edward and Bella eventually.  ADULTS ONLY
1. Chapter 1

**A/N I have finished writing the final chapter, 15, of Mrs Edward Cullen, there will be a sequel shortly, but first I want to do one other story so these new one chapters are just feelers to see if any of the stories are appealing. Want this one to continue? Then review, please. Whichever is reviewed most will be the one I write. Cheers,Lynz**

The Escort

Chapter One

May I Formally Introduce Myself?

_Kama is the Hindu God of Love and Lust._

Bella's POV

I scowled as I read the wedding announcement.

"Jacob Black married Renesmee White, (how cute), in a lavish ceremony today, watched by 120 guests at Chelsea Garden Receptions. The couple met at the opera, watching Don Giovanni and plan to honeymoon in Acapulco and reside in New York on their return."

How very sweet and peachy for them. No mention that she paid Jacob to accompany her that night. I do wish them every happiness blah blah blah.

Fine for Miss Renesmee White now Black, but what about me?

And the other three women who depended on Jacob as their escort.

I laughed as I thought of the high and mighty Mrs Jessica Newton, married to corporate millionaire Mike Newton, who was very fond of our Jacob. She will be livid and beyond pissed, if there is anything Jessica can't tolerate it's having to break in a new escort.

The money we were paying Jacob, I am surprised he can just go off and do some regular job that pays a regular wage now. Renesmee will be assuming there's plenty more money coming in, what with the mansion he had built on his wage and bonuses over the past five years. And the cars. Jacob liked cars and never restricted himself, if he saw a car he liked, he worked extra hard until he had the cash to buy it. I alone paid for his Porsche and his BMW. I think Jessica paid for the Lamborghini and maybe two or three of the others. I guess he will sell them and live off the proceeds but that will hurt. He loves those cars.

I guess it's true what we heard, Miss Renesmee White refused to marry him unless he gave up his occupation.

Stupid woman.

It would be a fairly painless way to live a life of luxury, having Jacob spend half his nights 'at work'. I'm quite sure, at his age, mid 20's, he would still have what it took to satisfy the little woman at home as well.

I groaned and picked up the phone.

I probably should get my name down on someone else's list before all the other customers of the lovely Jacob get in ahead of me.

"Instant Kama Agency, Aro speaking."

"Aro, Isabella here. I think you know what I want."

"Ah, the fair Isabella. May I offer my condolences?"

"Marcus isn't dead yet, Aro." I sniped.

"I merely meant, my condolences that your preferred escort deserted us all and married that tiresome creature. Heaven knows what he was thinking."

"Yes, well he did marry her and now I need a replacement. Who do you have with three nights per week available for an immediate start? You mention that cocky little Alec and I hang up the phone."

"Very well, I won't suggest Alec, though the other ladies never have any complaints, Isabella. I think you judge the lad too harshly."

I growled and he moved on.

"Let me see. Caius has a spare Monday night but no others, Seth...Seth has Wednesdays and Fridays,nope, I'm sorry, Isabella, but I don't have any three night vacancies. I'm sure you understand, my men are very highly thought of and much sought after. We rarely have vacancies at all. Maybe you need to consider Alec as a fill in and when Mrs Roburn leaves this mortal coil, Caius could give you her three nights?"

"I swear I will hang up and go to another agency, Aro." I threatened.

"Wait, on second thought...you are a very nice, gentle customer, no whips and chains, maybe you could do me a favor and break in the new boy. He is devilishly handsome." he cooed.

"New boy? How old, Aro, and I mean, on his real birth certificate. Not on your Wonderland fantasy bio."

"Hmm, let me see. Twenty seven years old. A wonderful age, as you know yourself. Now, he hasn't actually done any work in this field before, but the lad looks very promising indeed, Isabella, and I have a feeling you will enjoy introducing him to his new profession. What do you say? You can have him exclusively for the first six months if you like him. I can't be fairer than that, now can I?"

"Exclusive. Live-in?"

"Isabella, we don't allow live-in, you know that, my dear. Why are you being tiresome? I assure you, you will love this lad. Very sexy. Long fingers...plays the piano, looks like an angel straight from Heaven..."

"Fine. Send him over but he had better be adequate between the sheets, Aro, or his pretty face won't count for anything. How much?"

"Really, Isabella, money is so...distasteful a subject. How about you have the lad for a week's free trial and then you tell me what he is worth."

My ears pricked up at that.

Hmmm, I could put whatever price I wanted on him? That sounded pretty good. I always felt Jacob didn't quite earn his ridiculously high fee.

"Okay, agreed. Send him over, Marcus is in hospital again, more tests, but he doesn't want me visiting until I sort out a new escort for myself."

"Your husband is a real gentleman, my dear."

"I know." I sighed.

"Shall we say eight o'clock tonight, then you could check him over while you dine together?"

"Fine. Thanks, Aro. I hope."

"I hope so too, my dear. Good luck."

Hmmph.

Good luck.

I may just need it.

I called out to our cook and informed her there would be two for dinner after all and then added, she could leave after she finished preparing the meal, I would serve myself and my companion myself.

Siobhan appeared in front of me.

"Already, Mrs Volturi? You have replaced that nice Jacob already?"

"Mind your business and get back in the kitchen. Why the heck should I wait? He is not coming back. And you know the other women will all be clambering for a new man now. Jacob has let us all down."

Siobhan grimaced and muttered as she headed for the door.

"What was that, Siobhan?" I asked crossly.

"I simply said, it will be a cold day in Hell when you get a replacement as nice as Jacob. You know that is the truth, Ma'am."

"Shut up." I growled. Damn woman.

Probably true, though.

I stood and walked through the French doors and looked at the acres of perfect gardens and the large swimming pool and spa, side by side, and the tennis court and garage that housed a dozen cars.

Marcus, my dear sweet husband, appeared to have it all. Any man would probably volunteer to change places with him. But the one thing he didn't have, was the ability to make love to his own young, sweet, loving wife. Me, Isabella. I missed him so much now he had his own bedroom though he rarely slept.

It was his idea, me getting an escort, when it became obvious the drugs and the medical condition were making romance in the bedroom a thing of the past.

He didn't see any reason why my sex life had to end as well. He was twice my age , okay, he was 62 to my twenty seven, and had experienced plenty of variety in his bedroom before we married five years ago. Then, just a year into the marriage, diabetes hit suddenly and robbed us just when our honeymoon had ended. The same day the pregnancy test showed positive, his tests showed he was in a very bad way indeed, and it robbed my announcement of all joy.

Bailey was now a happy, healthy three year old and his existence gave my husband a reason to fight and live, despite the dire prognosis.

Marcus and I had experienced a year of bliss together, and that was it, over.

Of course, sex is not love, and we still love each other unconditionally.

But sex is necessary, and no woman my age just grins and bears it's sudden end.

I didn't want to have affairs, this was much better, much safer. No feelings were hurt, if Marcus could accept this was the best solution, who was I to argue?

Annoyed as I was with Jacob, it was not over losing his company or because I had feelings for him, it was simply a damned nuisance and my life was busy enough without having to 'break in the new boy'.

He had better be a quick learner.

xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx

Edward's POV

I hung up the phone and looked at the adress I had just written down.

Classy suburb. Big houses, money. But then, no average little suburban housewife could afford the prices Instant Kama charged. They kept thirty per cent for their administration fee and I pocketed seventy.

Of course, I had to earn it.

I rubbed my fingers through my hair.

Aro had promised he was easing me into the job, sending me off to be the exclusive playtoy of some rich wife whose husband could no longer satisfy her in bed.

I laughed mirthlessly.

She must be a real cold bitch to hire someone to fuck her while her husband was in the house, his house. These younger women marry rich, old men and then act surprised when he can't keep up to her.

Bitch.

I sorted through my unpaid invoices and added them up yet again. Maybe there was an error, maybe I didn't have to go ahead with this appalling 'career'.

Damn, damn, damn, there was no mistake.

My dear late father had died owing over 800,000 dollars to the IRS. They were an unforgiving lot, and his outstanding hospital bills were still sitting in my In tray, waiting to be magically paid.

I needed a million dollars, and I had no other way of earning it.

If I had not trusted the man to pay the taxes of our joint company, none of this would be happening.

I walked into the reading of his Will expecting to hear I had inherited his half of our business, maybe the house and his car.

I came out with a million dollar debt and no hope of paying it.

I did get the house and car but both were so heavily borrowed against, their sale merely paid out the loans on them.

Nothing for Edward.

Just a million fucking dollars debt.

I had approached the bank manager and the look on his face as he read my bills and checked the health of my company, had answered my unasked question.

There was not a snowflakes chance in Hell he was lending me even a tenth of what I needed.

My wife Lauren came from money, but Daddy would no more lend me a cent than he would lend me a bucket of water to extinguish the flames if I caught on fire.

He loved his daughter, and he hated me. Lauren was older than me, but she still looked to be in her twenties, thus far.

He didn't understand why she even looked at me, let alone married me.

Her first husband Eli was a God among men and he was perfect and I did not measure up in any way, shape or form.

His death had been tragic and a blight on them all and Daddy had expected his little flower to live in mourning and just take on lovers, I expect. When she met me and we fell in love, he tried everything to stop it.

I suspect some days it was his objection rather than any strong feelings she had for me that made her fight tooth and nail for us to marry.

I hardly knew her, but her daughter needed a father and at the time, she was a pretty cute kid. Now she was a thirteen year old raving bunch of hormones and as bitter and hateful as her mother and grandfather.

I had let them all down.

I'm sure Daddy was absolutely delighted, and he offered me a job working for his company.

The equivalent of office boy, gofer, slave.

And salary to match.

My company made enough to pay our bills and keep us in a pretty nice manner of living, it just had no chance of earning an extra million dollars.

I truly had suicidal thoughts, until I remembered the manner of Eli's death.

He had died in the arms of a call girl.

Oh, sorry, I mean a health worker who was giving him physiotherapy.

I must get the story straight.

Lauren had deluded herself that Eli's cover story was the truth and Daddy backed her up, he would never admit the amazing Eli was nothing but a cheat.

Yeah.

I am so much better.

A cheat who gets paid for his cheating.

I looked at the paper again.

Isabella Volturi.

No age mentioned but I was pretty certain women who married men of his age would be in their forties? God, I hoped no older.

I could do fifty, even sixty but 70? 80?

I shuddered.

I knew Marcus Volturi by reputation alone. He was highly thought of in his field.

Well, sitting here was not getting me anywhere.

I shut up the office and headed for my car and stopped off at a bar.

Just one, I swore.

We were not supposed to drink before a meeting but what the fuck.

If I didn't have one drink, I would never be able to force my legs to walk through her front door.

The bar was dimly lit and I had no sooner sat down than the bane of my existence appeared in the seat beside me.

"Eddie, long time no see."

"Tanya." I said flatly.

This woman had chased me since High School.

I had never given her the slightest reason to hope I would ever give in and once I married Lauren, I had hoped this crap would be a thing of the past. But no.

Why did I come in this bar?

Tanya bar hopped, no bar was safe from her.

It was like she tracked me like a sniffer dog and knew when I was weakening and going to stop for a drink. Nine times out of ten, she was in the bar I stopped at.

She called it Fate.

I called it a curse.

"So, Eddykins, are you gonna buy Tansy-Wanzy a little drinkie poo?"

Why the fuck not?

At least she was my age.

I ordered two Stoli's and slid one to her.

"Whatcha doing tonight?"

"Believe me, you don't want to know." I answered.

"Course I do. You going somewhere nice?"

"Depends if you consider Hell a nice place to visit." I answered.

"It's really quite pleasant, except for the smell." she sang and giggled as she finished.

"I'll let you know if that's true." I answered.

I glanced at my watch.

I had to be at Instant Kama in fifteen minutes, to shower and don one of their expensive suits, well out of my own price range. Kama men had to look the part, we were highly paid, high class escorts. Ready to accompany our ladies to wherever they wanted to go, be it the opera, a stage play, a fancy restaurant, whatever.

"Goodnight, Tanya." I said, and kissed her lips quickly. She was shocked into silence for once.

I managed not to shudder.

See, I can kiss a revolting, horrid woman and not gag. I congratulated myself and wondered how much more I would be expected to do tonight, on my first night in.

A lot more than a quick kiss, no doubt.

I called Lauren and told her I was meeting an old school friend and would be late. She sounded disinterested and merely hung up.

I could hear Laurinda, my step-daughter, yelling at her mother in the background and was glad I wasn't going home to a bitchy teen girl and an equally bitchy wife.

Things between Lauren and I were at crisis point and if she had any clue what I was really doing tonight, my bags would be packed and possibly lit on fire, when I got home.

I have no idea why marrying her was ever a good idea. Edward Snr, my father, had advised against it vocally.

I had been too stubborn and stupid to listen.

But, I had few options now. I couldn't even afford a single room to rent for myself, I needed to have free board at least. Lauren's Daddy paid for the house as a wedding present. Course, it was in her name only and I would not get a cent if we did divorce.

I didn't want her money, but I needed a roof over my head until I could pay off these debts I had inherited.

I stepped into the shower and washed my hair with the tangy smelling men's toiletries. Apparently they aren't called anything as crass as shampoo if you pay enough.

I shaved and combed my hair back neatly. As I stepped out of the bathroom, a valet signalled me over and gestured for me to sit in the chair before him.

A small white towel was around my neck and he cut and styled my rather wild and messy hair into a short, neat style in minutes.

I looked at the long locks on the floor. Lauren liked my hair long, so she could grab it during sex.

Not that we had sex often, but still, she would be pissed.

I smiled and thanked the man who told me his name was Charlie, and I carefully dressed myself in clothes that felt like Heaven against my skin.

I admired myself in the many mirrors and smirked.

"How you doing?" I joked, in Joey's voice.

"Very nice indeed. I knew you would scrub up very nicely, Mr Cullen." Aro commented as he walked up to me, straightening my tie.

"I am sure Isabella will take very good care of you. Now you make sure to take very good care of her. Understand?"

Only too well.

Aro showed me to the door and I climbed into the back of a shiny Volvo. The driver nodded in answer to my greeting, and wound up the window between the front and back seats.

Soft music played and I tried to calm myself by writing the notes down in my head.

All too soon we were there.

I stepped out of the car and shut the door and it pulled away instantly. I guess I find my own way home after...dinner.

I approached the front door and breathed in deeply a few times, to calm my nerves.

The welcome mat mocked me.

Welcome to Hell, it should have read.


	2. Chapter 2

**I had so many different ideas where to take this story, I may put a very different version on my other user,lol.**

The Escort

Chapter 2

My Name Is Edward Cullen

_A Bullet costs thirteen cents to buy individually._

Edward's POV

The door was opened by a very well rounded woman who stood at least six foot tall. She was expensively dressed and her long, red hair was becomingly styled.

Okay.

I can handle this.

I tried to tear my eyes away from her expansive bosom and couldn't help comparing her rack to that of my anorexic wife's expensive medically enhanced assets. This would be...different.

"Hello, Mrs Volturi? My name is Edward Cullen," I stated, holding out my hand for her to shake.

"Well hello there Edward Cullen," a voice with a thick Irish sing-song accent. She ignored my hand but her smile showed she was not about to ignore me.

She stepped outside and walked around me, inspecting me closely, as if assessing a horse.

"Very nice, very nice indeed," she commented, hands on hips. "Well, let's get straight up to my bedroom and do a test drive." She reached out and squeezed my backside.

"Siobhan!" a voice from inside the house called crossly, and a petite brunette appeared at her side.

"Excuse my cook, it's very hard to get good help these days," she growled. "I am Isabella Volturi, please come inside."

I can't help feeling relieved, as politically incorrect as that may be.

The older woman laughed and smirked at her boss.

"Shall I prepare you and your...'guest' some tea, Ma'am?" she asked. "Or will you be showing him around the bedroom? I mean, house?"

Isabella rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Siobhan, we would like some tea, thank you."

The cook left the room and Isabella waved me towards a chair.

"Siobhan has been with my husband for many years, she is a wonderful woman but a terrible stirrer. Please ignore her, I do."

I sat opposite her and couldn't help smiling at this small, feisty woman. I had a feeling I was way out of my depth already. Aro assured me this was a nice, easy client. I couldn't imagine getting on the wrong side of her, and coming away unharmed.

"So, Edward, what's a nice man like you doing in a deplorable job like this?" she asked.

"To be honest, my father recently died and left me in one hell of a mess. I need a million dollars fast and have little to offer in return other than my looks and company. Aro is a distant relative so I always knew about his business and that some men did these things. I never understood why until I found myself in this situation."

"You can't raise a loan?" she questioned.

"Not of the magnitude I need. I have my own company and we did very well for a long time but the downturn has taken us from highly profitable to barely keeping our heads above water. And our investments on the stock market...not pretty. But while I am breathing, I am trying to find a way out, so here I am."

"Pretty boy like you, why don't you marry some rich bird and have her cover your debts?" she asked.

"That would be too immoral for my liking, anyway, I am married." he answered.

xxx

Bella's POV

I sat up straighter.

"You are married? And working as an escort? Does your wife know?"

"Of course not."

"Edward, you need to ask yourself, would your wife rather see you bankrupt financially or bankrupt morally?"

"There is no other way out for me."

"That's defeatist talk. You own a company?"

"I do, my father was an equal partner but unfortunately I assumed he was doing his job properly, he ran companies before, on his own. I think his illness affected his judgement. I could sell out now for maybe $200,000 at best. No point losing my livelihood for such a small amount. If it would fetch enough to pay off everything, I would do it today and go accept my father-in-laws offer of a job doing donkey work for donkey wages."

"What does your company do?" I queried.

"We work in solar energy. Our current project which I can't quite get all the bugs straightened out, involves a removable solar battery for computers. You can have a single, small panel outside your window for pc's and get your energy from that or the actual battery can be removed from a laptop and recharged by the sun, it just means you need two battery packs, one in use and one charging. They should provide 48 hours of uninterrupted power when fully charged."

"Is this the right climate? Don't they need direct sunlight to recharge?"

"Not necessarily. Light alone can do it, any weather other than extremely heavy rain or snow, really. There are some bugs to work out, as I said. Eventually we will be able to store extra power on sunny days to recharge the batteries on rainy days. That's our goal." His eyes were shining with enthusiasm, something I had not seen in any man's eyes for a long time. The emerald green lit up, and his whole manner and body language changed. Here was a man with passion for his work.

"Can't you get a backer? An investor?" I asked.

"Too many companies all working on similar ideas. It will be way more profitable for the first one to iron out the bugs."

"I think you should talk to Marcus. He loves investments like this, in the future, anything that will live on after he goes."

"Thanks, but that won't solve my problems. Nobody would invest the amount I need . Say someone was keen enough to invest a million two, I would use the million to clear my debts and the 200,000 to get work going on the batteries. If we were beaten to the post by another company, then he could lose every penny."

"A million two is chickenfeed to Marcus."

"But I dare say he didn't get where he is today by investing in long shots." He hung his head.

"Edward, I think your idea sounds great. Let me run it past Marcus. Can you get me something on paper?"

He agreed to do just that.

Siobhan carried in the tea tray and set it on the coffee table. She executed a curtsy and stood back.

I bit my bottom lip, the woman was insufferable in this mood.

"Could I see you in the kitchen for a moment, please, Ma'am?" she asked.

I stood and excused myself, telling Edward to please help himself to refreshments.

As the kitchen door closed, Siobhan clapped her hands silently and almost jumped up and down on the spot.

"He is gorgeous! I take back what I said about not being able to replace Jacob. He is a pretty damn fine piece of man meat." she enthused.

"I know, but his heart isn't in this. Jacob loved his job, and I wouldn't even be all that surprised if he ends up back at work. Edward is a completely different type of man. A desperate one. I grew up counting every dollar, Siobhan, but at least we never had debts. I think his solution is all wrong for him."

"Well, he chose it, you are doing him a favor taking him on. If you don't, someone else will. Jessica Newton comes to mind."

"You have a point. I really need to approach Marcus. Tell you what, forget dinner, take it home for you and your husband, I think Edward's first assignment can be dinner out at AJ's. Would you mind booking us a table? You know Jasper loves you and will give us the best table in the house in exchange for a batch of your lemon tarts."

"Then I had better get baking. You go make googly eyes at Mr Hotness in there. I don't suppose you want to swap beds tonight, you could give Dougal a thrill and Edward could definitely give me one," she winked. Like she would ever share her bed with anyone but her gorgeous big Scottish bear of a husband.

"Behave, woman, and get baking. Let me know what time Jasper wants us there."

Edward was drinking tea and looking out of the French doors.

"This is an amazing place you have here. I know of your husband, of course."

"Marcus deserves every accolade he ever gets. He is a wonderful husband. I don't imagine you can understand for one minute why he encourages me to hire escorts. I have only ever had the one, Jacob. Aro tried to send me a second, Alec, but I felt bad enough at first even being with Jacob. He and Marcus became great friends, he will miss their chats together."

"No, I admit I cannot understand why your husband wants this to happen." he replied.

"Marcus is a gentleman, and he believes it is his duty to make sure I am fully satisfied with all aspects of my life. Whatever he can't provide himself, he hires staff to do for him. It's the way he was raised. His father was completely wheelchair bound in his later years and he hired a gardener, who knew little about actual plants, to keep his wife, my Mother-In-Law, happy.

He was sure she would get sick of a sexless existence and leave him so he reasoned it was the lesser of the two evils. Marcus saw their arrangement work well, and the man became more or less part of their family. My husband had no hesitation deciding it was the solution for us, too."

"Really? It just seems a little cold blooded to me."

"I can see why. I fought against it, I was willing to settle for whatever Marcus was able to offer, but he himself had a very full and colorful sex life in his younger days and he was determined I should have the same. He initially wanted two escorts so I wouldn't be in danger of forming a bond if he hired just the one. But it was hard for me to even accept one. Two...no way."

"But you came to terms with it?"

"Edward, crazy as this may seem, I accepted my lot in life for my husband. Once I was sleeping with Jacob, Marcus became happy and secure again. He fretted and tortured himself when I refused, he was sure his inability to satisfy me would come between us and end us completely one day. We have a three year old son, he deserves to be in a happy and peaceful home and to have his father as long as possible. It's bad for Marcus to be stressed or upset. And I never forged any sort of bond with Jacob, I think I was less enamoured with him than my husband was. They became true friends."

"Do you miss him?"

"Depends what you mean. I don't miss Jacob myself but the thought of having to up my number to three...it is unsettling to me."

"Three?" he questioned.

"I guess I am a rarity, I saved myself for marriage. I was glad I had, until Marcus became ill. I think it would have been much easier for me if I had a history of sleeping around. I was physically ill the first few times. Jacob was very understanding and had years of experience breaking in new women. So, I got used to it."

"And you will get used to being with me?"

"I feel differently about you. For one, Jacob loved his job and he even visited other times, apart from our regular times, just to spend time with my husband. You seem like a very different kettle of fish. You don't want to do this, therefore we won't. Bad enough me struggling with my issues, without yours as well."

He placed his cup on the table.

"That's fine, I am sure Aro has someone else in mind who can use me."

"Edward, I do intend keeping you on, but as more of a companion. Marcus is unable to sleep much, but he usually sleeps for four or five hours from eight in the evening, so I do get bored. I would like someone to go out to the theatre and such with. Aro doesn't have to know that's all we do together. I certainly have no intention of telling him. You will still get paid the same."

He raised his eyebrows.

"Really?" The look of relief made me want to giggle like a schoolgirl.

"Really. Now, we have reservations at AJ's if that lazy woman in the kitchen is doing her job properly."

Siobhan appeared on cue with a container of her fabulous lemon curd tarts.

"Make sure all twenty four make it into Jasper's hands. He knows how many I made." she warned.

"What are you going to do if we sneak some, short-sheet the bed?" I answered.

"Wash your undies in starch, more like." she promised.

"Well, then it is lucky I don't wear any."

Edward blinked, whether at our exchange or at that piece of information, I couldn't tell.

I guess it will take some time for him to even start understanding the relationship between Siobhan and I. We are best friends but we love to annoy one another. Her favorite way of stirring me up is to act submissively, and curtsy to me. Mine is to verbally abuse her and send her to the kitchen.

Behind closed doors, she sneaks Marcus dvd's and we watch porn together and pick on the manufactured breasts of the stars, and rate the men, but never highly. Cowboy Clint is our current favorite, with his six gun and all. He gets a seven out of ten.

She pretends to be having an affair with our poolman, Eric, which is funnier than it sounds, as he has a husband and would never look at any woman. He thinks we don't know his secret and he tries to flirt back with her. His efforts are often hilarious.

We shop together and she openly tells me if an outfit makes my ass look big or I look like a cheap tart. She never sugarcoats her opinion.

If she says she likes some outfit, I know she sincerely does and I buy it without hesitation. She has a flare of knowing what suits me. And how Marcus likes to see me dressed.

I imagine many people take us for mother and daughter.

I find that comforting as my own mother left my father when I was a child. It's nice to have a woman who understands me and interacts with my many moods. She can be moody as well, some days she beats the rugs outside with such force I make the tea and cook the meals lest she poisons us all in her bad temper.

Emmett, our driver, brought the car around and Edward opened the door for me. I liked that. Aro's men are all highly trained, and all act like gentlemen.

"Where to tonight, Ma'am?" asked a cheekily smiling Emmett.

"AJ"s, thank you. Ma'am? Who do you think you are impressing? Edward, this is Emmett McCarty, Siobhan's son. He lives in the staff quarters in the back. With his ravishingly gorgeous girlfriend, Rose, whom he does not deserve seeing he refuses to marry the sweet girl. We are going to harass him until he gives in. You should watch your step, Emmett. Rose has an eye for a handsome man, she may sneak into Edward's bed when you aren't looking."

"As his bed is your bed, that would make a pretty hot video, can I tape it?" he joked.

"You did last time when she was in bed with Jacob and I, didn't you? Oh no, you were away that night. I shouldn't have mentioned it."

I tried to keep a straight face as Emmett's jaw hung open and he watched my face in the rear vision mirror, trying to decide if I was joking or not.

"Maybe you had better ask Rose about that night. Tell her I am sorry for spilling the beans, will you?" I added.

I couldn't wait for Rosalie's reaction, she would march into the house and demand I told Emmett the truth, that I made the lie up. So long as she didn't slap me, it was worth the fury she would radiate. She is an artist and her paintings are amazing when she paints in anger. It's a hobby for the rest of us, to get her so riled she does a dozen canvases in one night. Then she settles down and paints her "chocolate box" cottage scenes, for which she is well known.

I prefer her wild, untamed, chaotic, angry scenes of wild seas and rocking boats. They adorn many of the walls in the house.

Edward looked confused, unsure if he was supposed to be shocked or amused.

I clasped his hand in mine to squeeze a message of reassurance that I was kidding with Emmett, and the moment our skin made contact, something almost electrical buzzed between us.

I looked at him and he raised our joined hands.

"What the fuck?" he said, without thinking. He dropped my hand and nursed his own, as if it had been burned. I shook my own hand.

"Excuse my language." he hurriedly said.

"No, Edward, you got it right the first time. What the fuck was that?" I asked.

"That has never happened to me before. We must be static-ed or something." he answered.

Definitely something.

xxx xxx

Jasper greeted us with his usual flair but he eyed Edward curiously. I had always dined here with Marcus and sometimes Jacob, but never anyone else.

"Jasper Whitlock, Edward Cullen. Edward is new on our payroll."

Let Jasper assume whatever he likes.

"Nice to meet you, Edward. Alice has your favorite table waiting, Bella."

"Oh good, you let her out of the kitchen for once."

I love Alice, she is a bright spark in any dark night.

Alice was bouncing on the balls of her feet as we approached the table. Edward held my chair out and I sat down and Alice leaned in close to my ear.

"Just yum."

I handed the container of tarts to her.

"Yes, Alice, I am sure Siobhan's tarts are just yum."

She blushed.

"Alice, this is Edward Cullen. He will be escorting me around town now Jacob is warming his toes on his own hearth."

"Nice to meet you, Edward." she trilled.

"A pleasure to meet you, Alice. Nice place you have here."

"Thank you. Have you been here before?"

"Ah, no, I'm afraid not." he answered, clearly the prices here would be a long way out of his reach.

"Keep two of those tarts for us, before Jas hands them out to all his favorite customers, please." I asked her.

"Oh you have always been our favorite customer. Some of those women Marcus dated before you came along and saved him from a life of debauchery..."

She blushed again as she realised what she had said. His life definitely lacked debauchery now.

She busied herself, handing us menu's.

Edward whistled silently at the price list on his.

"It's all going on our account here, please order whatever you like. Everything's wonderful."

I ordered lobster and Edward eagerly did the same. He ate it as enthusiastically as I did and we both ended up with buttery hands and faces. I was happy to see him forgetting his troubles for one evening.

After our lemon curd tarts and meringue topping that Jas had his chef add, we drank coffee and relaxed.

"Tell me about your wife." I suggested.

"Lauren. She is thirty five, she was widowed with a young daughter, Laurinda. We had a whirlwind courtship and married in haste. Now we are repenting in leisure, as they say."

"But you do love her?" I asked.

"In my own quiet way. Sometimes I wonder if she ever loved me at all. Her father disapproved of me completely, and I think that made me a lot more desirable in her eyes."

"Edward, look at you. I'm sure she loves you." I assured him.

"If she loves me for my looks alone, then it's a poor kind of love." he sighed.

"What do you think she would do if she knew where you worked evenings?"

"Leave me. Or kick me out, rather. She owns the house."

"Is it worth taking the chance?"

"I don't see that I have any choice. It's be a play toy to wealthy women or lose everything and spend the rest of my life working my ass off to pay the debts. If you can see another way out, other than the solution that costs 13 cents, please let me know."

"Don't give up yet, Edward. I am sure we can come to an arrangement. How much of your company would you be willing to part with?"

"The business would never raise more than the low 2's. It's not even a consideration, as I said."

"But if selling half to, say, me, got you enough to settle you debts, how much would you be willing to part with?"

"Mrs Volturi, you could have the whole damn thing. All I want is a chance to live a normal life. Work on my marriage to Lauren, try and get through to Laurinda that I want to be her father and her friend. Even working for Daddy would be bearable, I guess, if the debt was gone."

"I don't think that would be necessary. Let me talk to Marcus. I wasn't kidding when I said he loves investing in new ideas and not-so-sure things. That's how he got started. We can drop by the hospital tonight once we finish here."

"Isn't it a little late?" he asked.

"Marcus won't be asleep, he never sleeps unless he is in his own bed. He will be delighted to meet a new face. Come on."

We thanked Jasper and Alice and left.

Marcus was awake and very crotchety to be confined to bed.

"Hello, my Darling. And this must be your new young man. "

I introduced Edward and smiled as they shook hands. I could already see they would be great friends, maybe even more so than he and Jacob had been.

I climbed up onto the bed and snuggled under the covers.

"Marcus, Darling, may I have 1.2 million dollars to spend?" I asked sweetly.

"Of course, my love." he answered.


	3. Chapter 3

The Escort

Chapter 3

A Pleasant Evening

Edward's POV

Watching Isabella laying in her husband's arms, I couldn't help but smile at her. She truly did love him and knew he just wanted the best of everything for her.

I froze when she asked him for the money as I knew exactly what it meant. She was going to save me. It was true, a million two was chicken feed to her husband but he had not even asked why she wanted it!

"Thank you, Marcus." she murmured and leaned up to kiss him. The look of pure adoration on both their faces took my breath away. The way her body coiled around his, the way she pressed herself closely to him, she was obviously a very passionate woman and I could finally see why he allowed, insisted, on escorts for her. A body like that needed to be touched and coaxed into ecstasy, often. She seemed oblivious of how sensual she was being with him but he was aware of it and the look of regret, disappointment and helplessness shone in his eyes. This was love. Real love, not the pale imitation Lauren and I shared. What I wouldn't give for my wife to look at me like that.

For my partner to put my needs ahead of her own, just once. He had been doing this for years, making sure she was kept happy in the one way be could not be there for her himself.

I wished I could someday be half the man he was.

And it was nothing to do with the money. Marcus had bought Isabella an island off Hawaii once when she asked him for a holiday at the beach for her birthday gift.

Gestures like this were like me taking home a bunch of flowers for Lauren, something I must do more often, I chided myself. If I wanted this sort of relationship with her, I had to work at it as well, just as hard.

"Are you going to buy something pretty?" asked Marcus, finally.

"I want to help out a friend, is that okay?" she answered.

"Of course, my sweet. I trust you completely, you would only help them out if they deserved it."

He froze suddenly.

"Our dear Jasper and Alice have not hit hard times, have they?" he worried.

"No, they are doing well. Edward took me to dinner at AJ's tonight, in fact." Isabella answered.

I shifted on my feet uncomfortably. I had taken her to dinner but he had paid and anything else that happened between Isabella and I, he would be paying for.

It was just weird.

"Edward, do me a favor. If Isabella buys any diamonds while shopping with you, please make sure the diamonds are clean, my insurance doesn't cover diamond necklaces tossed into the ocean because the source of the stones offends my wife."

"I shall do my best, Sir." I replied. What did I know about diamonds other than the fact they were out of my reach?

"Edward has his own company, Marcus, and I told him to bring in some printed info next time and let you read it to see if you think it may be a good investment for us."

Marcus raised his eyebrows.

"You are a businessman?" he questioned.

"Yes, one with a lot of debt, mind you." I answered.

"Bella, Darling, go and have your usual secret consultation with my physician and leave Edward and I to get to know one another better."

She unmolded her body from his and slid out of his bed.

Pausing to kiss him, she headed for the door and pulled it closed behind her.

"Edward, tell me all about yourself. Your company, your talents, and what led you to be hiring yourself out to women."

I gave him the long version. He remembered my father from his glory days, Edward Masen Cullen had always been a canny and successful businessman and had headed several companies over the years, only selling them on when he got a new idea and wanted a change.

It had come as such a shock when I found out all the things he had let slide. Of course, he had hidden them. Half the debt to the IRS was penalties for ignoring warnings to pay up overdue payments for the last few years. I had no idea. I had been completely unaware of our circumstances. No doubt my father had been sure he could turn things around, he had done that many times in the past, but the economic downturn and the drop in the share market had ended that plan.

Then he got ill and was hospitalized and died, never telling me the true state of affairs.

Marcus listened then asked me to tell him about the company and I told him about our software and the solar battery project.

As Isabella had predicted, he became excited at that idea and immediately wanted to see plans, facts and projections and I promised to have an information package sent over to him in the morning.

When he asked about my personal life, his face dropped on hearing I was married. I didn't think much about it at the time.

Then he asked me to visit again, without Isabella as he needed to discuss some things with me.

"Please take care of her, Edward. She is very dear to me. I would have popped my clogs ages ago if I knew she had someone to take care of her. And my boy. I waited all my life before I married and had a son and I left it too late."

I sympathised with him. I had no child of my own flesh and blood. I tried to be the father Laurinda needed but she spent too much time in the company of her embittered grandfather who saw Eli as the only man good enough for his daughter, and thus she rebelled more against me all the time.

Any time she was in any sort of trouble, the old man would begin the discussion with "That would never have happened if her father were here, bringing her up properly."

I guess I really never stood a chance, with Lauren or Laurinda. I couldn't help wishing, selfishly, that the man had died as well, along with his sainted son-in-law.

That way maybe my wife would have asked me my opinions and thoughts and not just parroted everything her father uttered as if it were gospel.

Had the man liked me, I know he would have championed me to them both and influenced them into loving and accepting me. He was a large part of our problems. Had I but known, I would have moved half a country away when we got married, out of his influence.

Isabella returned to the room, her eyes suspiciously moist.

She managed to smile and kiss Marcus and I took her to the entrance of the private hospital and waited with her while she called Emmett to come and drive her home.

I was about to call a cab but she turned to me, with tears running down her face.

"Edward, could you please stay over for tonight? Is it possible?"

"Of course." I answered.

I called home but both my wife and stepdaughter were out, and the machine took my message, that I had drunk a little too much to drive safely and was sleeping in a motel tonight, and would see them tomorrow.

I tried my wife's cell phone but it was turned off. With Daddy, probably.

Emmett drove us to the Volturi house in silence, picking up on Isabella's mood, and he raised his eyebrows at me in the rear view mirror. I grimaced, and he nodded his understanding.

He pulled up when we arrived and I opened the car door for Isabella to alight from the car.

She struggled with the key to the front door, and I took them from her and opened the door myself.

She made it to the sitting room before collapsing in tears on the settee.

"The doctors don't think he will make it until Christmas. I so wanted one more Christmas. Bailey is old enough this year to be excited about Santa and to have a chance of actually remembering his father. What's the point of all this if you can't even have a Christmas with your wife and son, Edward?"

I stood awkwardly then closed in and approached her . I held my hands out, inviting her into my arms.

She may rebuff me, we hardly know each other, but the offer of comfort is there if she wants it.

She fell into my arms and I held her tightly as she cried tears of despair over her beloved Marcus. My shirt was quite damp but I was sure Aro would understand if it was ruined, better a shirt needing to be replaced than a client abandoned in her time of need.

I asked her if she wanted a drink or anything, and she shook her head.

I guessed the bedrooms would be up the ornate staircase that dominated the lobby of the house, and helped her walk up them.

She led me to the bedroom where she apparently slept, and I helped her undress, and she barely realised I was seeing her naked as I helped remove her underthings. I looked around for a place where her nightwear may be.

She gestured towards a small set of drawers and I found a red nightgown and slid it over her head.

I removed the suit and shirt and climbed into bed with her, and held her in my arms , rubbing her sides and arm until she relaxed and cried herself to sleep.

My nose was buried in her hair and she smelt awesome. I couldn't help sniffing in her fragrance, she smelt flowery and sweet and intoxicating.

The next thing I knew, the door was pushed open and it was morning. A small boy stood beside the bed, smiling shyly at me.

I glanced at a still sleeping Isabella, still wrapped in my embrace.

Siobhan appeared.

"Master Bailey, let's leave Mommy to wake up. How's about I make you some pancakes?" she offered, attempting to shuffle the child out of the room.

"Who is he? Where is Uncle Jacob?" the child asked.

"Uncle Jacob married Aunt Renesmee, and now they live somewhere far away, but I am sure they will come visit someday. This is Edward, now say hello and use your manners."

"Hello Edward." he said, quietly.

"Hello, Bailey. Very nice to meet you." I answered.

"Are you having pancakes, too?" he asked.

"That would be great." I replied.

"Do you like syrup or just butter and sugar?" he questioned.

"Oh syrup, it's the best part."

"Yup. I like syrup."

Siobhan picked him up into her arms.

"Let's let Edward get up and come to the kitchen and we will make the pancakes so they are ready when he is. Okay?

"Okey dokey." laughed the child. He was sweet, a mixture of both parents.

After they left, I tried slipping my arm from under Isabella but she opened her eyes just as I was congratulating myself on succeeding.

"Hey." I said softly.

"Edward?" she asked, puzzled.

"You were upset last night so I slept here with you."

"Oh. Thanks. It's morning?" she asked.

"Your little boy has just been in looking for you. Pancakes are being made as we speak."

"Was he okay? Seeing you here? He would have expected.."

"Jacob? He did ask. Siobhan explained."

"God, what am I teaching my son? That it's okay for Mommy to sleep with other men? This is so wrong." She burst into tears.

I was not sure what I should do, but I offered her a hug and she hesitated then allowed me to embrace her.

"We didn't do anything wrong. Just explain. Don't you sleep in his bed, with him, sometimes?"

"Of course." she replied.

"Then he won't think anything of it. Just tell him you were sad and I stayed to help you."

"Thank you, Edward. And for last night, too."

"My pleasure. Now, pancakes wait for no man, if we don't get down to the kitchen, I think your son may just eat the lot."

I grabbed my shirt and dinner pants and dressed.

"I'll be right down." Isabella said, watching me dress.

I opened the door and made my way to the kitchen, from which the sounds of an excited child echoed. I remembered when Laurinda was about eight, she sounded like this. It is sad how much she has changed.

"Edward!" said a happy voice.

I sat at the table and fought with him over the jug of syrup.

xxx xxx xxx

Bella's POV

As Edward dressed, I realized something. Siobhan rarely stayed over all night, usually Rose and Emmett stayed in the guesthouse and took Bailey down with them if I went out, so that meant Edward had undressed me. I blushed at the thought. I looked at my clothes, all I wore was my red silk nightdress. No undies.

They were on the chair with the rest of my clothes from yesterday.

I guess, I had intended doing more than let him undress me when I hired him. It was okay.

I went to my own bedroom, we had slept in the room I had only used for Jacob's visits, it seems it has become the Escort room now.

I showered quickly and dressed in a simple Summer frock seeing the day looked fine and warm, and went down to the kitchen.

"Momma!" yelled Bailey.

"Good Morning, Bales." I answered, kissing the top of his head.

"I eated four pancakes and Edward eated only three!" he reported excitedly.

"Yeah, but you are a growing boy. I have done all my growing." Edward defended.

"That means I'll grow up bigger than you."

"You probably will." Edward agreed.

"Not as big as Emmett, but. He is way big."

"That's because he ate all his vegetables when he was a lad." Siobhan told my son.

"So, if I eat all my veg'ables, I will grow as bigger as Emmett?" he asked, frowning.

No doubt he was wondering if the prize was worth the effort.

"Well, we know you won't, if you don't." said Siobhan cunningly.

"Did you eat all your veg'ables, Edward?" he asked, needing another opinion.

"No, I was a silly boy so I didn't get massive muscles like Emmett."

Bailey smiled. "I am gonna eat mine then." he decided.

Siobhan handed me a coffee and I sat down at the table, beside Bailey, opposite Edward.

"Did you two sleep okay?" my nagging, walking conscience asked.

"Yes thank you." I replied. Damned woman can assume whatever she likes.

"So, you had a very satisfactory sleep?" she pressed.

"Absolutely." Edward winked at me, and answered.

"So, satisfactory for both of you."

"Yes, Siobhan, would you like to watch the dvd?" I asked.

"What dvd?" asked Bailey. "Like The Wiggles?"

"I am sure there was some wiggling going on." said Siobhan.

"Not the cowboy dvd?" Bailey persisted.

Siobhan and I both froze.

"What cowboy dvd?" I questioned.

"The one with the cowboy who lost his clothes and only had a hat on that you and Siobhan were watching when I was looking for Daddy at nighttime."

We both blushed. Neither of us had even been aware of him walking into the study, where we always sat to eat popcorn and watch porn. Fortunately, it was very mild, soft porn, I was doubly glad of that fact now.

"Did the cowboy find his clothes? Did the lady have them?"

"Yes, he found his clothes. Now, how about we watch one of your dvd's, Bob the Builder?" I rapidly changed the subject.

Bailey let Siobhan wash his hands and face and she set him up in the playroom with his show.

"So, can I maybe watch the cowboy dvd with you sometime? Just to make sure he did find his clothes?" asked Edward, leaning in closer.

I blushed bright red and burst into laughter.

"They are Marcus' dvd's. We just watch them to give points to the men who star in them." I explained.

"So, how many stars did the Naked Cowboy earn?" he asked.

"I think we gave him a six or seven." I answered.

"He almost got an eight when he.."

"That's TMI" I warned Siobhan, cutting her off. Edward was no doubt thinking we were a couple of pervs.

"I should get home, see if the wife and Laurinda are home. Then off to work. When would you like me to come back?" he asked.

"Tomorrow? I need someone to help me shop." I answered.

He looked surprised.

"I am not very good at knowing what women should buy, maybe Siobhan can help better than I could?"

"No, I need your opinion on this item. Is ten o'clock okay?"

"Lauren plays tennis Saturdays and Laurinda is going to sleepover this weekend. I may be free both days if you want."

I walked to the front door with him.

"I put the money into your account after I got dressed this morning." I told him.

"For last night?" he questioned.

"No, Edward, the 1.2 million. I know you will honor whatever agreement we come to re me being a partner in your company. I was thinking 50/50, would that be fair?"

"No way, you should take the whole thing. I can still run it, as a salaried employee."

"Edward, one thing Marcus taught me. Always invest in companies where the CEO owns half the company, that way he has a vested interest in making a profit."

Edward stood and gazed at me intently.

"Fifty-fifty it is. You have no idea what this means to me, Isabella."

"Edward, I know what it's like to struggle and I know what it's like when life screws you over. I married Marcus hoping we had twenty years together. Nothing can change my bad luck but maybe by me changing yours, I will earn some points with the karma police and get to keep my husband until December 26th."

"I wish there was some way I could make that happen for you and Bailey ." he replied.

"Well, go see your family and be grateful you still have them. And pay off your debts and smile, Edward. You have another chance. Maybe you should take your wife out tonight? I used to have Jacob here three nights each week, you let me know how often you can be here. We can work it out between us."

"Thank you, Isabella, from the bottom of my heart."

"Maybe explain to your wife you are an escort. As in, you escort me to dinners and shows and charity events. Tell her there's no sex involved. I will confirm it if she wants to talk to me."

"I can never repay you." he stated.

"You didn't get yourself into this financial mess, it isn't fair your life could be ruined over it. Marcus' money all comes to Bailey and I anyway. If it helps one friend out of hot water, then at least it has done one good thing."

"May I kiss you?" he asked, suddenly.

"You don't have to." I laughed.

"No. I know. I want to." he said, staring into my eyes, though it seemed more like he could see directly into my soul.

"Okay." I said, laughing self consciously. I felt like some stupid, giggly schoolgirl around him now.

He cupped my chin with his hands and leaned in and barely brushed his lips against mine.

That static thing burst between us but instead of pulling back, he drew in closer, and kissed me.

It was just a kiss.

Just a kiss.

I turned and went back inside and watched him walk towards the gate. Emmett tooted the car horn and drove forward and opened the door.

I saw Edward climb in the car and it drove away.

xxx xxx xxx

Edward's POV

The front door was unlocked so someone must be home. I just needed a hot shower, and a change of clothes then I would head for work and pay my damned debts and get my best workers onto working out the solar battery solution. It felt like a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

I almost felt tempted to whistle, and I hurried upstairs, and opened our bedroom door.

Lauren was asleep in our bed, and Laurinda was sleeping in the bed with her?

I panicked for a minute, had something happened? She was thirteen, she didn't sleep in bed with her mother, hadn't since before I met Lauren.

I peeled back the covers.

Not Laurinda.

Definitely not Laurinda.


	4. Chapter 4

The Escort

Chapter 4

argy-bargy, **argie-bargie**

_n_ _pl_ **-bargies**

_Brit/Aussie_ _informal..._ a wrangling argument or verbal dispute

Sympathy For The Devil

Edward's POV

I stood open mouthed at the two naked women, entwined in each other. Tanya Denali had finally made it into my bed.

She opened her eyes and smiled.

"Eddie. Hiya."

"Tanya, what the fuck is going on?" I asked. My brain was refusing to compute. There must be some other explanation.

Lauren murmured and rolled away from Tanya. I leaned over and shook my wife's shoulder roughly.

"Fuck off, Tyler." She said and opened her eyes. "Edward. What are you doing home? I thought you were sleeping in a motel?"

"I did. It's eight am in the morning."

Lauren moaned and sat up, holding her head in her hands.

"Tanya, what the fuck did you put in those fucking drinks?" she demanded.

"Oh, a bit of this and a bit of that. They were awesome, right?" she laughed as she stepped out of our bed and stretched her tall, thin body , arms raised above her head, breasts jutting out in the sunlight that poured in through the window.

She walked to the single cupboard in the corner of the room and opened it, flicking through the towels.

"Where are the green ones? You know I prefer the soft, green ones, Laur. Haven't you washed them since the other night?" she asked, annoyed.

"Excuse me?" I asked. "You have been here before? In bed with my wife?"

"Oh dear, Eddie's cross. I will just go jump in the shower and leave the argy-bargy to the married couple." Tanya said and headed to our bathroom.

I was about to protest but she opened the medicine cabinet and helped herself to a pink disposable lady's razor with far too much familiarity for this to be even just a second visit.

"Lauren?" I asked.

"What, Edward?" She breathed out in annoyance and boredom.

"How long has this been going on?" I asked, clearly pissed.

"Since Tanya and I met. We became….friends. We hung out a bit before I met you. It's nothing, Edward. Just a little bit of girl's play."

"You had sex with her?" I exclaimed, finally accepting the glaring truth.

"Sort of sex. I wasn't unfaithful, she doesn't have a penis." She snarled. "Though unlike the gender that does have them, she knows where everything is and how to fucking please me."

I sat on the side of the bed.

Did messing with another woman constitute unfaithfulness? Surely getting sexual relief from anyone but your spouse is the definition of cheating?

I shook my head. Even a certain President had denied sex was sex unless it involved penetration and these two were not capable of that.

Suddenly the nagging worry in the back of my head that I should not have kissed Isabella seemed so paltry I was able to dismiss it as completely unimportant. Well, not unimportant but definitely not cheating.

"Wait. Why did you call me Tyler when I shook you?" I suddenly remembered.

"Edward, would you calm the fuck down. Tyler is Tanya's friend, he was here last night and we all had a few laughs, something you wouldn't relate to."

"Did you sleep with him?"

She narrowed her eyes and tried to think back.

"Define sleep, he clearly didn't stay all night. I wonder why not?" she mused.

"Did he have sex with you? You know, 'stick his penis inside you' sex?"

She stretched.

"Maybe a little. But he stayed clear of my pussy, if you have to know all the details. Get over yourself. Go have your usual angst attack over the deep shit you are in financially, that's all you fucking care about these days. Go cry over your bankruptcy and leave us alone."

"Knock, knock," said a cheery voice at the door and a naked man walked in and set a tea tray on the bed.

"Coffee, one sugar, milk, right? Where's Tan?"

"In the shower." Lauren mumbled.

"Hi there, I am Tyler. And you are scrumptious, why wasn't he here last night? Hmm? Holding out on your friends, Lauren?" he asked as he cupped his own mug of coffee.

Lauren looked up from her beverage. She met my glare with one of her own.

"Oh grow up, you are never home. How often do we have sex, Edward? I dare say you have screwed around for years, too, don't pretend you haven't. All those nights you 'worked late' trying to solve the solar battery issue, sure, you were working."

"I was." I stated loudly.

"So, can I make you a coffee?" asked Eric. He seemed completely unperturbed by our argument.

"No." I answered gruffly and went to my closet and grabbed a new outfit and clean boxers. I walked towards our bathroom then remembered who was in there. The door opened, and Tanya stood before us, in a pink towel.

"So, he told you about the kiss,Laur?" she asked.

I blanched.

How did Tanya even know I kissed Isabella?

Tanya smirked at me.

"You see, there I was, sitting innocently in Danny's Bar and Eddie insisted on buying me a drink, hoping to get me drunk, maybe. And when he left, he kissed me on the lips. I was so shocked, Tanya, you know I would never kiss your husband behind your back."

"Like I would care," said Lauren. "I'm glad to hear he is loosening up, getting out there and having some fun because God knows, we don't have much fun here in this bedroom. Bathroom, Edward? There are others of us waiting to have a shower."

"Well, if we need to double up, I volunteer to go in there with Edward." Said Tyler, winking at me.

I turned and walked out into the hallway, slamming the bedroom door and it's occupants behind me.

Who could have even imagined the man working as an escort was the one with the cleanest conscience in this house?

I used the family bathroom and dressed hurriedly.

Damn the woman , and her perverted friends. What the fuck was I supposed to do now? Staying here was not an option. But where could I go? I wondered how Emmett felt about putting me up in the guesthouse.

I strode into our bedroom and grabbed a bag and packed a couple of work suits and some jeans and button shirts and T's and sox and boxers and grabbed my running shoes and gear.

Merriment was echoing from the bathroom, so I slammed the front door behind myself and drove to work.

I tried as hard as I could to forget the scene from this morning. I cursed Lauren and her stupid sex buddies and paced the floor. My right hand man, Ben, eyed me a few times and tried to explain his latest 'breakthrough' solution to our problem but I couldn't concentrate.

Angela, my PA, came in with the information pack I had asked her to prepare in duplicate for Marcus and Isabella and I decided, as I was useless to everyone here, I would deliver them to the hospital myself. I transferred the money from my account into the debt recovery account of the IRS, making sure the amount was correct to today's balance. It rose every day. Then I paid the hospital bill, which mercifully had not added interest, they at least knew I was doing my best and had accepted my regular payments for the interest only.

Then I placed the remaining money into the business account Lauren had no access to.

I cancelled the credit card I was responsible for paying, let her mooch off her father. Let him finance his little princess's orgies.

I grabbed my bag and left the building, assuring Ben he was doing a great job covering for my absences. I would pay him a bonus as soon as I could afford to. This money of Marcus' would not last long, we needed a break in the market to get properly back on our feet.

I parked and made for the hospital entrance. The receptionist told me my name was listed as visitors allowed to call in any time so I made my way down the corridor to the private room Marcus had.

He was sitting in a chair by the window and his face lit up when I knocked and opened the door at his invitation.

"Edward, come on in. You look peaky, and that's not good, coming from the terminally ill patient. What's up?"

"I am probably in shock. I just had a surprise awaiting me when I got home. I intended taking your wife's advice and telling Lauren about my work as an escort, but she was rather busy with a few 'friends' of her own, if you get my drift."

"Poor man. Tell me all about it, I only get to live vicariously through others these days." He settled himself down on his bed and I sat on the chair he had vacated for me.

I explained the whole fiasco and his eyes lit up and he tried to conceal his reaction.

"Tanya and Lauren. I know…of them, shall we say?" he said.

I sat there as still as a statue. I knew he had been a well-publicised player in his earlier days before Isabella.

"Edward, this may come as a shock to you but your wife was a player during her first marriage. I wondered if your Lauren was the Lauren of old, but now you say Tanya, it must be she. Those two came as a pair some nights. Let's move on to nicer topics."

"Please." I muttered.

"Let me tell you a little about how we met, Isabella and I. I was a patron of the Art and English departments of the University she was attending. There had been some rumours that not all donations were being utilized correctly so I decided to borrow a library card and pretend to be just wanting to read some of the rare books, to check if my donation had led to the purchase of the books they had informed me I had donated. Isabella was working there part time to put herself through college.

She took me by surprise, her beauty was obvious but her conversation startled me, so knowledgeable at such a young age. And her humor and wit enchanted me from the start.

She showed me all the books in question and before I realized, my mouth had formed the words to invite her to have lunch with me. She graciously accepted and of course, an hour in her company and I was completely smitten.

Naturally it occurred to be she could be one of the many gold diggers this town had to offer but she called me by the name on the library card I had borrowed throughout the meal and looked genuinely confused when a colleague of mine called me by my actual name.

I then had to hold my hand up to the deception but she understood why I had done what I did. I was glad the lie was exposed as I knew without a shadow of doubt that I wanted to pursue a relationship with her. But she was so young, Edward. Just a girl, really. With a very old soul.

She thought nothing of the age difference and her friends varied from young teens to sixty year olds, and she never seemed to differentiate at all, they were all accepted equally by her. I never heard her comment on anyone's age and I started to imagine I could have her.

She knew a little about Volturi Enterprises, what the average disinterested lay person knows, so she was shocked when she found out she was dating a billionaire and I was afraid she would call the relationship off then and there.

She is a woman little impressed by wealth, Edward. She grew up with her father struggling to keep his head above water and she always had after school jobs and a paper round even, as soon as she turned 12.

So, she objected to the money I had and the only way to placate her was to join this bunch of billionaires she had heard about, who were handing fifty per cent of their fortunes over to charity.

I decided it was a worthwhile investment and she did, indeed, appreciate the gesture and next thing she accepted my proposal.

The wedding was low key, twenty of her closest friends and relatives and twenty of mine. Many people were furious with me for omitting them off the guest list but my fiancée had set the rules and I had to obey.

This is what she did to me, Edward, changed me from knowing I had power over virtually anyone I chose to dominate, to some love sick fool who had a wedding the size usually reserved for hard up college students.

Media coverage would have been fierce had any details been leaked but my clever girl booked everything in her own name and nobody cared about some student named Isabella Swan. She was not on anyone's radar. So, I got to have an intimate and meaningful ceremony with my very dearest friends and not the usual never ending list of colleagues, and colleagues of colleagues, as one would expect.

And I enjoyed the day immensely, not being on show, just being 'the groom' like any average man.

We honeymooned for a whole year and for that I shall be eternally grateful. Taking my new wife to countries she had never been, staying in the best of hotels, with master chef's feeding us, and hot and cold running staff pandering to our every need.

Then she insisted we backpack across some of the most beautiful states of American and stay in hostels and do it student style. It was an experience like nothing I had ever had before. I grew up with more money than most people ever hear about so I had never experienced travel on a budget and it was fun getting back to nature and the basics in life.

I guess I changed Isabella's life completely but she also changed mine, in so many ways, Edward. I never felt the need to marry any of the women I had been in relationships with, and the rapport between this girl and I stunned me. I had to have her and keep her for myself.

We were no sooner home than everything turned to shit, as they say.

The very day Isabella found out she was expecting our son, was the day I got my test results. I had always had a yearly physical and always enjoyed hearing I had the body of man twenty years younger so it was unexpected to find things were finally catching up with me and in months, I felt my true age for the first time.

It goes without saying, I would never have tied Isabella to me had this deterioration happened a year earlier. I feel bad for me, Edward but the guilt I feel for my beautiful wife far outweighs that. I tied her down to an old, dying man. It should never have happened but I would be lying if I pretended I am not glad it did. That we found each other before my end came.

She has such a wonderful soul, she has made me feel alive and happy, Edward, really, truly, deeply happy. How many men can say that about their spouse? I want to live forever to be with her but I don't want to be a burden to her so I welcome the end, when it comes.

This leaves me with a problem. Who will love and care for my Isabella when I am gone? She is so open, and innocent and trusting. I greatly fear there will be many men waiting for the nails to be put in my coffin, then they will descend, but will she manage to recognise the ones who will love her, and the ones who will love my money? I had hoped Jacob would be the one but Isabella simply never felt the right way about him. She resented having to resort to getting sexual relief from him, and I hope she is being more co-operative with you, my boy."

"Isabella and I are just getting to known each other but so far, she has been very welcoming." I answered. I didn't want to lie and I had no real idea if his wife intended to stick to the 'no sex' rule long term or if she merely wanted to see if she could stand me touching her first.

To say I was surprised at her lack of sex partners, having only Marcus and Jacob, is an understatement. She is beautiful, she must have attended high school and college with a lot of virile young guys yet none had lured her into their beds? I thought girls like her were a thing of the past. I couldn't help wishing I had met her first, before Marcus, but then, I would have dragged her down with me when the financial crash happened.

Maybe a girl like her would have stood by me and understood it was not my fault. Though to be honest, I suppose in hindsight my blindly accepting my father was keeping up his duties may have been naive. It was his lifelong history of turning everything he touched to silver, if not gold, that lured me into a false sense of security.

"So, Edward, I must say now my hopes are a little raised. This situation with your wife…has it ended things between you two or merely caused a short term separation?" he asked.

"I have no idea. I am still fighting to work out what happened, what exactly she has done. I feel betrayed but she seems to think if nobody else had normal everyday vaginal sex with her, then whatever she has been doing is fine and not cheating. I guess we all have different definitions of what constitutes adultery, to me she has crossed the line. I don't know what will happen. I need to stay away for a few days and sort my head out then make a decision.

I plan to ask Emmett to let me stay with him, if that's okay?"

"My dear boy, you must stay at our house, Isabella will assign you a bedroom, there are a dozen empty and there is even a suite of rooms, like a small apartment, in the attic. You can stay as long as you wish. A night, a week, forever. Don't feel you are imposing, I would love to know there was a man in the house while I am in here."

"Of course. I would be happy to stay in your house if it helps. That would be a solution for us both. Thank you."

"Edward, I need your help. I may delay this conversation, actually. In a couple of weeks, we shall talk again. When your family status is more clear. Now, tell me, are you a football fan? I believe there is a game on tonight. Care to come and watch it with me?"

"That would be great. What time?"

"It's early, you will be home before my son goes to bed. So you can help Isabella with the bedtime routine, if you will."

"I will go to your house now and leave my bag and make sure it's all okay with Isabella, then I need to get back to work for a few hours. You are aware I am the friend your wife is helping, financially?"

"Edward, it's her money. Well, it will be soon and I hope by then you or some other man will be there to help and advise her. I will study the information and financial statements you have brought me this afternoon and we will talk again soon. If Isabella has decided you deserve a break, I am happy for her to make whatever deal she did with you."

"I can't hope to ever pay her back, Marcus. I took this job much against my own morals but I was desperate. I would love to be able to pay her back one day but know from the start, it's highly unlikely."

"Edward, that is of little concern to me. At this point in my life, a million dollars is just a number in a bank account. It won't save me or prolong my time with my wife, and she has more than enough to keep her in luxury if that's what she chooses. I won't be completely surprised if she sells everything and gives the money to charity or hands the house over to the homeless. I need to find someone who can show her she needs to keep enough to ensure she and my son have everything they need for the rest of their lives.

I have no doubt she will give a lot away but I hope she will be sensible."

"All I can do is talk to her and point out her son will need his future assured, but I will do my best." I promised him.

Isabella had spoken to her husband on the phone by the time I arrived and she showed me the apartment upstairs and gave me the keys and code for the private entrance. I would be completely separated from the rest of the house but that seemed best. Bailey would accept me easier that way and Isabella and Marcus would have complete privacy to live as the family they were, when he was released from his hospital bed.

Ben was pleased when I got back to the office and we stayed in my office while I played devil's advocate and put up every possible stumbling block to his solution for the solar battery. I gave up, I couldn't fault it. We had to get this patented fast.

Ben started the necessary ball rolling and we had things well underway by the time I returned to the hospital for the game broadcast.

Afterwards I headed back to the Volturi mansion and entered through the private entrance that led to my attic apartment. I unpacked the clothes I had brought with me and decided to visit Lauren quickly seeing it was still early and Bailey would have another hour to spend with his mother before bedtime.

Lauren was sitting on the settee and barely looked up when I entered the house we had lived in since our wedding.

"I've packed everything you own. It's all in boxes in the garage," she stated flatly, turning back to the television screen.

"Lauren, we need to talk, Discuss what happens next."

"You move out, we get divorced, I get to live my life the way I want and answer to nobody, " she answered.

"That's it? We don't even try to work things out? Our wedding vows mean that little to you?" I queried.

"Grow up, Edward. We were a bad match, we both knew that from day one. If Daddy hadn't objected so loudly and unjustly, I am sure we would have fizzled out naturally after a few months. He just made me so determined to make my own decisions, I didn't stop to really think about what I wanted, long term. I'm sorry, Edward. But it's better this way."

"And Laurinda? I have tried to be a father figure to her since she was eight years old. I just go and don't even say good-bye?"

"I doubt she will care, to be honest. She wants to live with my father for a while, I think it may be a solution. She and I need a bit of space from one another."

"How convenient. Now your 'friends' have free reign on the house whenever they want."

Tanya entered the room and handed Lauren a coffee. She smirked at me and sat on the edge of the settee, beside my wife, and took her spare hand into her own.

"Lauren won't be lonely, Edward. I will take excellent care of her. "

"So, my side of the bed is filled already." I said resignedly.

"Tanya, say good-bye to Edward." Lauren said.

I stood and left, going to the garage and carrying the boxes of my life to my car.

That seems pretty much done. Lauren was standing by my car on my last trip. I placed the final box on the front passenger seat.

"Daddy's lawyer will contact you soon. The sooner the better. No point dragging things out. You could be free of us by July."

"I shall be sorry we didn't work out, Lauren but I do see it's probably for the best. Say good-bye to Laurinda for me. May I still send her gifts on her birthday and Christmas?"

"That's up to you. Don't expect her to be grateful."

It was refreshing to hear the sounds of a happy child when I went downstairs and entered the main part of Isabella's house after carrying my boxes upstairs. Bailey was still in the bath and resisting his mother's pleas to get out.

She looked amused, not the least upset as she cajoled him with promises of a bedtime cookie if he behaved.

"Hello, Edward," he squealed when I put my head around the door.

"Hello, Bailey. So, are we sharing a bedtime cookie?" I asked, and he turned and held his hands out for me to lift him from the bath.

I handed him into the towel Isabella held out and she dried and dressed him.

"I want Edward to read to me, too," he whined as she tucked him into bed and he sat breaking the cookie into three pieces. He handed his mother the biggest piece and me the second and kept the smallest for himself.

"Rose is coming to take me to the hospital to see Daddy, maybe Edward wouldn't mind helping Emmett babysit you tonight?" she suggested.

"It would be my pleasure." I answered, eating my cookie piece and looking through the books beside the bed.

"The fireman story, please," Bailey requested and I read the story to him. He sat up and frowned when I misread a single word.

"You know this whole book by heart, word for word?" I asked.

"He has been listening to that story every night for a year now." Isabella explained.

Bailey settled down while I read another book, and Isabella kissed him and left to get dressed to go to see her husband.

Emmett arrived just as Bailey fell asleep.

I went downstairs to the sitting room and Emmett introduced me to his Rose. She was a very glamorous woman, I couldn't help staring at her. She enjoyed the attention, and smiled back at me.

"So, Edward, the new Jacob," she smirked.

"Nice to meet you, Rose," I answered. I assumed Isabella would tell her whatever she chose about our arrangement, when it suited her. I didn't feel it was my place to clue anyone in on the actual facts.

Emmett and I walked the women out to the car and Emmett kissed his girl passionately.

"See you later boys." Rose called. "So, Bella, spill all, " was the last comment I heard as they drove away.

Emmett and I sat in the media room and watched a movie and had a single beer each. I was dog tired after all the drama of today but I was awake when Isabella returned. Rose and Emmett left quickly and I was about to excuse myself to go to my own bed when I saw Isabella's eyes.

"Can you stay with me just for tonight?" she asked nervously, just as she had the night before.

"Sure, whatever you prefer." I agreed and stripped to my boxers and slid into the same bed as we had slept in last night. Isabella changed in her bedroom and came to bed in a pair of silk pyjamas. I was pleased to see her well covered, tonight was not the night to change anything between us.

"Good-night, Edward," she said softly as she curled up against me.

"Goodnight, Isabella," I answered, kissing her chastely on the lips.

The sparks hit again and I kissed her again. I was confused, nothing like that happened when I kissed anyone else.

It had to mean something.

What, I had no idea.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you luvjazzyhale4evs13 for correcting my French, as you say, you can't trust Google translators!**

Chapter 5

Shopping Spree.

Desir' is French for lust.

Bella's POV.

I had one single purchase in mind the next day when we got ready to hit the shops. An item I needed help choosing. Edward came downstairs after showering and changing in his apartment and we walked to the car together. Rose was driving today, Emmett and Siobhan had taken Bailey to visit his father.

I was nervous and a little embarrassed.

"Where to?" asked Rose.

"Um, the city." I answered, vaguely.

"Would you care to nominate a particular shop, the city is a big place," she answered.

"That shop you told me about when I told you Jacob was getting married."

I glared at her in the rear vision mirror. She frowned then her face lit up as she worked out which shop I meant.

"Oh yeah, I shall be doing a little shopping there myself," she laughed.

"Where are we going?" asked Edward.

"Just a shop. Please don't ask anything more or I will chicken out." I answered.

He shrugged.

"I have some shopping to do as well, if you don't mind," he added.

"Of course not," I answered. Maybe I should just take Rose in The Shop with me, after all? Maybe Edward having his own shopping to do was a God sent sign to not take him.

"So, Rose, I have been looking at your paintings. You are an amazing artist," Edward commented.

"Thanks. The Mistress here likes my wild shit but most of my customers are after the pretty stuff. The country cottages, the flower filled meadows, the brooks with rainbows reflected in the water. Most NORMAL people adore then and want them on their walls, not paintings of storms and wild seas and lightening strikes."

"Whoever said I was normal?" I asked her.

"Nobody would ever imagine you were," she came back with.

"God, what's normal anyway?" Can I ask you ladies a question?" Edward asked.

We both nodded.

"What exactly constitutes cheating on your spouse?"

"Doing anything with anyone else that you would not do openly in front of your partner," answered Rose.

"That's pretty fair," I agreed. "I was going to say any kind of sexual or emotional tie to another person other than your spouse. I told you, Edward, our agreement no longer included sex," I assured him.

Rose raised her eyebrows in the mirror at me and I ignored her. I didn't want to have Edward bail because he suspected I was lulling him into a false sense of security then appearing in his bed one night.

"I found my wife in bed with a woman. They were both naked and had spent the night together, getting each other off. Cheating?"

Both Rose and I agreed. That was indeed cheating.

"And a male friend who….invaded a body cavity not intended for penises? Cheating?"

"Cheating but could be hot. Tell us more," said Rose.

"Lauren appears to think so long as nobody penetrates her vagina, she is not cheating. Not that it matters now, we are done."

"Did she do this in retaliation for your new job?" I asked him fearfully.

"No, the irony is, she has been getting with the woman at least, for years. Marcus even knew of the two of them from years ago."

"Oh fuck, that Lauren?" squealed Rose. "Lauren of Lauren and Tanya?"

Edward looked particularly mortified.

"I'm so happy to know everyone knows them and they are famous. It is true, the spouse is the last one to know."

"I haven't seen either of them for years but they were very active before Emmett and I decided we were a monogamous couple and quit the scene. That was like, six, seven years ago. They are still together? Still sharing…" she stopped mid sentence and suddenly realised driving took all her attention. The atmosphere was thick and tense.

"I'm so sorry, Edward." I said.

He let me take his hand in mine and squeezed it. I smiled at him. He was a nice guy who had bad breaks. He certainly didn't deserve this. But then, he hadn't deserved the financial backlash either.

Rosalie parked in the parking area reserved for customers of Desir'. She hurriedly locked the car. Edward stood facing the building with it's blacked out windows and painted sign that promised a hot, naughty shopping spree inside.

"Okay," he said.

He took my hand and walked inside, behind an excited Rose who fairly raced for the door. She was straight into the costumes, grabbing Naughty Nurse and Bedroom Maid. She held up Naughty Schoolgirl.

"Edward, yes? No? I never figured out if it was right to encourage an adult male to want to have sex with schoolgirls?"

Edward looked a little lost.

"As it's you in the uniform, I guess if it's what Emmett likes?" he answered.

"He likes me in anything, but also in nothing at all," she answered, putting the three outfits in her basket.

"Now, Isabella, what exactly are we here to buy. My God, I have to have those. Four pairs are not enough."

She threw a pair of fluffy handcuffs into her selections. I frowned for a minute. Four pairs, sure, I could picture that. One for each wrist and ankle and the other cuff around a handy part of the bed head and the frame at the end. Five pairs?

She smirked.

"I think it's safe to say, you will never need to know, Isabella," she said. "Now?"

"Um. Personal items." I blushed bright red and walked around, looking at things I could not even imagine how to use. Finally, there was the glass case I needed. A range of vibrators were on display.

"I need to buy one of these but nothing too…" I searched for the word.

"Oh, there's no such thing as too anything. Vibrators can be lots of fun. Are you after outer stimulation, or something that goes inside your vagina, or an anal.."

"Rose!" I hissed.

"What? They are all made for different places, Bella. You need to decide where you want to stick it before you buy one."

"God, kill me now," I begged. "Something normal. For..outside.."

"For your clit? This one here is good, fairly basic and you can use it on him as well, Emmett enjoys it when I…" she stopped talking at my evil look.

"We'll take one of this one here, the Pink Putty Tat," said Rose, saving me at least from having to buy it myself. Edward was grinning slightly at my discomfort and he let my hand go and wandered off, looking with studied interest at various things, clearly giving me some time and space to return to a human color tone and stop shaking.

He rejoined me as I headed for the door. Rose could pay, she had a credit card Marcus gave all his staff.

I headed for the car and unlocked the door with my spare key. Edward climbed in and sat beside me.

"Isabella, don't be embarrassed. I got home to find my wife in bed with a woman. I think buying a vibrator is a lot more normal than that."

"I just haven't ever bought anything like that before. I hope it comes with instructions," I answered. I knew I was blushing madly.

Edward put his arm around me.

"I can help you work it out tonight, if you want. If you prefer privacy, that's fine, but these things can't be too complicated."

"Thank you," I said, looking anywhere but at him.

"Isabella, I know you only bought this because I have been reluctant to go through with what you hired me for. It's the least I can do." He cupped my face and gazed into my eyes.

"You have the most amazing eyes. They seem to be bottomless pools. I really like them."

"Thank you," I said again, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. His closeness was disturbing.

"May I please kiss you again?" he asked.

I glanced outside, no Rose yet. She probably would be a while.

I nodded my head. If he was teaching me how to use a vibrator, I should at least be allowing him to kiss me. He moved in closer and his eyes kept mine captured as he grazed lips upon mine.

He firmed the kiss up and deepened it and to my shock, I leaned forward and grabbed his hair and kissed him back, grinding my body against his. God, it had been too long.

He moved his hands from my chin to my sides and as the kiss continued, he slid one hand across my breasts, gently stroking outside my dress. Without thought, I took his hand and slid it inside the fabric of the halter neck top of my dress.

He touched me carefully, gently, and I wanted more. I pushed my breast into his hand and he played with the nipple, pulling it out, twirling it in his fingers. My breathing was getting louder and erratic.

I felt his other hand slide down and move along my leg, just above the knee, then slide up inside my skirt.

"No panties, " he said, then kissed me again, even longer as his fingers traced along my folds, just lightly touching me.

I stopped breathing. I needed him, this, so much.

Rose was leaving the store and Edward reluctantly pulled away, replacing my skirt down smoothly and making sure my top was decently placed.

Rose raised an eyebrow as she opened the door and put a dozen bags on the spare passenger seat beside hers.

"Isabella has a headache, we should go directly home," Edward told Rose. She grinned and started the engine. I avoided eye contact with her in the mirror the whole way home.

"I thought you needed to shop yourself," Rose reminded Edward.

"Tomorrow will do," he replied, holding my hand tightly. His thumb traced over mine and I sat silently all trip. Rose put music on and she and Edward sang along to whatever song was playing.

When we got home, Rose handed Edward my bag and a second bag, and winked at us both. Edward helped me from the car and unlocked the front door. The house was empty. I had expected to be out a lot longer and Emmett and Siobhan would be taking my son to McDonald's for lunch and possibly to the zoo or playground afterwards.

Edward stood at the foot of the stairs. He faced me and held both my hands in his.

"You just say the word and I will stop or slow down, whatever you want. Okay?"

I nodded.

He led me up to the room I shared with him and he lay the bags on the floor, and stripped off his clothes quickly, pausing when he was just in boxers.

"May I undress you, Isabella?" he asked.

I nodded and he undid the ties of my sundress and the zip down the center back and let the dress fall to the floor.

Pulling the bedclothes open, he sat on the edge and pulled me to between his legs, nuzzling against my naked breasts.

"These are so soft. I don't think I have touched a real, natural breast since Junior Year in High School."

He sat me on his knee and kissed me gently, but the kiss went out of control as soon as his tongue asked for entrance into my mouth. I pushed my own tongue inside his warm mouth and grabbed his hair, rubbing my body against his.

"God, Isabella, do you have a condom here?" he asked as I ground my body against his obvious erection beneath the silky fabric of his boxers.

I opened the drawer beside the bed and sighed with relief that Jacob had left half a strip there.

Edward sat back and pulled his boxers down and slid the latex into place.

I watched and wondered what the hell I was thinking but as he reached for me again, I was lost and somehow I was flat on my back on the bed and my legs were around his waist, pushing my wet and anxious sex against him.

His fingers started to stroke me and he felt inside me to check if I was ready. I was, very, very ready. All earlier thoughts of keeping myself restricted to two men only vanished as he slid his erection along my folds and I moaned at the contact. God, I need this.

He slipped inside me, slowly, and looked into my eyes, keeping eye contact as he encased himself deep inside .

"Is this okay? Do you want me to stop?" he whispered in my ear.

"No, keep going." I answered, shamelessly.

He clasped me closely and pushed inside me fully.

"You are unbelievably tight. So wet, so warm, so ready for me," he whispered.

He sat us up and placed my legs astride his hips, and he sank in deeper still, his hands cupping my backside, pulling me in close to his body. My clit found friction against his pelvic bones and he rocked us together. It felt awesome.

There was no denying, we were a perfect fit for one another.

His lips sought mine and he kissed me slowly, deeply, passionately, as his body followed suit and pushed in and out, slowly, deeply.

I threw my head back. His lips found my throat and he kissed it up and down as he rocked us together.

"Isabella, Bella, Bella."

He tightened his grip on my buttocks.

"Is this good? Do you want me to touch anywhere else?" he asked.

I shook my head and gasped in more oxygen. The feelings, the friction, the buzz between our bodies.

Weirdly, there was more.

A connection I can't explain.

I had sex with Jacob for three years. I refused to let him inside me while I was carrying Bailey, though he did other forms of relief to me at that time. I never cared if he didn't turn up, if he saw other women, if he fucked half the city.

Edward was different.

I wanted him to be mine alone.

I had no idea how to even begin coping with this. I couldn't tell him, he would go, leave me, take on Jessica instead.

I understood now the anxiety and letdown Marcus had experienced over my time with Jake. He wanted us to connect like this, he wanted me to fall in love with Jacob, so he could leave. He knew his time was short, and he loved me enough to want to leave me with another man in my heart. But Edward had a wife and a stepchild.

He may be going through some stuff now but nothing that couldn't be resolved. We all make mistakes, we all stuff up.

I refused to allow my eyes to close, holding his gaze was the most intimate thing I had ever experienced, it was greater, bigger, stronger, than the physical buzz and connection occurring between our legs.

It was in our brains and in our hearts. His eyes shone and his lips curled slightly, he was reading my mind, knowing what I was feeling, and feeling it too.

"Edward." I whispered rather than screamed as my body jerked along with his and we peaked together.

He clung me in tightly to his chest and out hearts smashed together as they beat out of control. He moved his hips slightly, just enough to keep the pulses going.

"Bella," he said, just as quietly.

He was locked in my embrace and I in his. I lay my head against his shoulder and he rested his chin on top of my head.

We sat there long after the waves of pleasure had faded and gone. I was scared to look at him. Scared of what his eyes would say. If he loved me, how would I cope?

But if this was just a job to him, how would I live through it?

I clung on tightly and felt my eyes close. I stopped fighting. The sensible thing would be to call Aro and ask for Alec, because I love my husband and I don't want another man in my heart while Marcus lives and breathes.

But how can I let Edward go?

Simple.

I can't.

Edward's POV

I could feel Isabella's nervousness as she clung to me and I knew what she was feeling. How can one session of making love do this, make us one? It isn't logical or possible. We are over-reacting, reading more into it than is really there.

That would make more sense than this feeling that she has become part of my body, half of my heart. I can't find the instructions to order myself to let her go, put her down onto the bed and lay beside her. I need to feel her heart beating, in sync with mine. I need her in able to keep breathing. If we separate, both our hearts will cease to pump, and we will die here together.

I have been married for five years. You don't just give up and let that go, without trying to fight your way back, to regain the old feelings, such as they were. It wouldn't be right or moral, to love this women in my arms a thousand times more than I ever loved the woman I married.

I should walk out now, leave, go home on bended knee, never see Isabella again. That would be the right and sensible plan. How can I love her so much, so fast? She has a husband but that means nothing now. He is giving her to me and I am taking her. It's wrong, immoral, nobody would understand how I allowed this to happen.

I don't understand myself.

But I already know I will never do the decent thing and walk away.

I will probably never even speak to Lauren again.

This last hour made her completely irrelevant to my life. It's like she never existed. And I don't care.

I pulled back, and kissed the top of Bella's head.

She looked up at me and I rested my forehead on hers.

"You are my life now."

I don't know whether she said it first or I did, or whether we both said it at the same time, as it appeared to have happened.

Tears poured down her cheeks but I didn't want to release my hold on her to wipe them away with my thumbs. I leaned over and licked them from her cheeks, kissed them and welcomed them into my mouth. Some of her was now inside me, inside my body, just as some of me was still inside hers.

We were each other now.

We didn't move, even when my legs cramped and hers went numb.

Siobhan knocked quietly and opened the door. She stood stock still and smiled at us. As she approached, she shed a tear or two herself. Her hand picked up the blanket and she wrapped it around our bodies, still joined.

She tip toed away, like her presence was disturbing us.

I heard the door close quietly and Siobhan speak.

"Come along, Rose and I are going to give you your dinner and bath, and Emmett will read you three stories tonight. Let's leave Momma, she is asleep. You will see her in the morning."

Bailey's voice echoed as he chatted and announced the titles Emmett would be reading. Rose's voice joined in, and the household managed without us for one evening.

I rocked and cradled the woman in my arms and sang to her. She sighed contentedly and lay her cheek against my chest.

Whatever happened from this point onwards, she was already mine.


	6. Chapter 6

The Escort

Chapter 6

The Morning After

"Edward, how did this happen?" Bella asked me.

She lay across my chest, her breasts still pressed into my torso.

"I can't explain," I answered.

"So, it is possible to love two men at the same time," she stated.

"It would appear so. All I know is, I love you with all my heart," I added.

"I feel like a second heart grew in my chest last night and it is full of you. It isn't imposing at all on my love for Marcus. I haven't suddenly stopped loving and caring about him, you know."

"I wouldn't want that, love. You are an amazing woman, I am sure you are fully capable of loving us both equally."

She frowned and bit her lip.

"It's different. With us. I don't want to feel disloyal to my husband but this feels like it was always meant to happen. Like everything that came before was just what had to occur to get us to this place."

I gazed into her eyes.

"We are meant to be and the pieces of the jigsaw are sliding into place. It's like someone knew, and wrote the scene and now we are playing our roles, as they were always intended."

My hands couldn't keep away. One hand stroked her hair, playing with the long, soft tresses and letting her silky locks slide through my fingers. The other hand stroked every inch of skin I could reach. I traced her nose, her eyebrows, her chin, her lips.

She opened her mouth slightly and bit me gently.

"Bella, I want to make love to you again," I said, my voice husky.

We had showered together and although our hands had touched every inch of one another, we had not attempted to make love in the water. It seemed like we just wanted to touch and feel and honor each other's body.

Now I wanted more, I wanted to move inside her again.

She rolled off me and went into the bathroom. When she returned, she lay beside me and traced circles on my chest with her finger.

"I was tested after Jacob left, and I am in the clear. He always used condoms, no exceptions, no breakages. He was tested weekly as Aro demanded. I imagine he has the same rule for you? When were you last tested? Have you been with Lauren since?"

"I was tested three months ago then a week before I came here. Aro does insist on weekly testing, so I adhere to the rules. And no, embarrassing as it is to admit, Lauren and I had not had sex in those three months. I have never cheated on her, Bella. It never even occurred to me to do so. I thought we were happy enough together and it ate at my soul to take on this..occupation. I was not even sure, until yesterday, that I could make love to you."

"What changed?" she asked.

"Your vulnerability yesterday in Desir', it just seemed so wrong, for you to be buying plastic devices and me being here, desiring your body and wanting to touch you and kissing you just confirmed it would happen, unless you stopped me. But I admit, I had absolutely no idea what would happen. That we would connect and change like that.

I have had plenty of girlfriends over the years, High School, College, until I met Lauren. I have slept with five women apart from yourself and I have never, ever felt what I felt last night. It's always been about need and desire and pleasure but this is all those things and so much more, it is so foreign and different.

I thought I loved my wife. Now I want to laugh at how wrong I was. It's like the difference you feel between finding a semi dry towel when you emerge from the shower, and being wrapped from head to toe in gossamer.

The first is adequate and livewithable, the second is pure Heaven.

You are my Heaven, Bella. I cannot step back or slow down now, it is done."

She turned her back and curled up in a ball and I spooned her and wrapped my body around hers.

She tilted her face towards mine for a kiss and I got lost in her warmth.

"Should I use a condom?" I asked quietly.

"No, I need to feel you bare inside me," she panted slightly. It excited me no end to see her as excited as I was. I stroked her backside and slid my hand between her legs as she parted them willingly.

She was wet and she bucked against my fingers as I felt inside her, leaving my second finger outside to slide against her clit. It became swollen and needy as I pushed my fingers in and out and felt her relax and become completely prepared.

My erection was more than ready so I edged it closer and moved my hand away, just letting her clit feel my hardness as I stroked it along her, mimicking sex but staying outside her pussy. My hands moved to her hips and I clung on tight as I allowed myself to glide back and forth, back and forth, kissing her back. She was starting to mew like a kitten so I pushed a little more firmly and felt her shake as she came on me.

I flipped her over and entered her, lying on the top, needing to keep eye contact during the real thing. Her body was still pulsing and she gasped a little as I pushed inside fully and ground my pelvis hard, keeping her waves of pleasure going longer.

"Edward," she whispered.

I had once had a screamer, in college, and I have to say, I like this so much better. It seems more intimate, when she speaks so quietly as I make her come, so only I can hear her. It's like this is for us alone, nobody else matters, we have nobody to impress. She shuddered and her walls fluttered as I kissed her soundly.

My eyes widened as she took me with her, with no build up warning me I was about to come. It felt so raw and almost like I no longer had control. Like she decided when I would orgasm, but it was not her decision either. Our bodies had taken over from our minds. While we spoke sweet words and kissed, our bodies got down to it and made beautiful music together that neither of us conducted.

I was a little sad it was over so fast for us both but even as I thought of withdrawing, she smiled against my cheek and I realized I was hardening again, still inside her.

This was a first. Usually no matter how good the sex is, I need a recovery break.

But then, the sex has never been anywhere near this good before her.

I felt almost embarrassed at my earlier attempts with other girls. Now they seemed so inadequate and fumbling compared to this. Maybe Lauren had been right to find relief elsewhere. I could never make her body respond to mine like Isabella's did, and she certainly never made me hard again once I released inside her.

Maybe I had been as inept with her as she hinted at. I know I have never felt like this, like what was happening was the reason we were put on this planet. Like I was living inside a cloud of love and desire and never wanted to come up for air.

Isabella pushed against me and I rolled us over, and let her sit on top. She grinned and held my hands, our fingers intertwined, against the pillow. She was in control, and she slid herself almost off me then fell back down so I plunged into her depths again, sometimes fast, sometimes so slowly it was blowing my mind.

She ground her pelvis each time I was deep inside, and I could feel her excitement grow. She was thrusting herself, up and down, faster but erratically and I smiled as she got closer and started to pant and moan and mew.

"Oh Edward, Edward…" she sighed contentedly as her body clenched around mine. I felt so light and happy I wanted to laugh out loud but I was shocked as once again, I went with her and felt myself filling her in spurts of absolute pleasure. My hips lifted and jerked as she took everything I had to offer.

She slipped a hand down between my legs and gently rolled my sac as I was finishing, which made me moan and go on longer.

My eyes drifted shut and I had never felt the peace and calm that overtook me before.

She slid down beside me and I pulled her in close so our bodies kept touching all the way down our sides and she played with my feet with her toes.

"Perfect"

The word left my mouth with no warning. It appears I have no control at all now.

Feeling her face on my torso, her leg overlapping mine, her small hands stroking innocently, playing with my chest hair and snail trail, I knew life could probably never get any better than this, because this was indeed perfection.

We slept and finally we woke when someone knocked at the door.

I grinned and got out of bed, bending to kiss those sweet lips as I pulled my boxers on. Isabella pulled on my shirt, only, and sat cross legged, facing away from the door.

Nobody was there but a painting was resting against the wall on the floor.

I lifted it up and turned it to look at.

I knew Rose had been outside the door when Siobhan came into the room last night but I had no idea Rose had looked in, until now.

The painting was the sweetest yet most erotic thing I had ever seen.

Bella was entwined around my body, her face holding the most beautiful expression, her eyes half closed, her mouth doing that slight but so meaningful bewitching

smile I had been privileged to have bestowed on me.

My body was facing away but my face was looking down at her, and the love on my face shocked even me. I felt kind of sick that someone else had even intruded on that moment of complete intimacy. Yet glad she did, or we would not have this perfect moment captured for all time.

I walked slowly to the bed and handed the painting to Bella, who stared at it for a long minute, then looked up tearfully.

"It's true, this is so much more," she cried, scaring me with the obvious distress.

"Bella, it's not a competition, we will be together many, many more years than you will be with Marcus, we need more love between us, to last until the end of time."

She smiled at my words and accepted them as the truth.

"You are right. But we have to go tell him. He will be so happy now," she said with confidence.

Xx xx xX

Marcus knew the moment they walked in the door. He smiled but his heart tore in two. She loved this boy, this man, this Edward Cullen. Her eyes were alive, full of love. Her body was happy, satisfied, so they had been making love, at last.

He had feared she wouldn't give in and let Edward try to make her feel all she was capable of. Marcus had always known, from the start, that although she was everything he could have ever wanted and needed and loved, he was not the right one for her. Strangely, it was not even an age thing. Not even anything to do with him not going to be here for her for most of her life.

But now she had found the right man. He was happy, immensely happy, but the slight flicker in her eyes as hers caught his told him she knew. She knew it all now. How he had managed to make her think she was loving as fully as possible and all the time she had hidden reserves far greater than anything she felt for him. She had never had the slightest idea.

She thought she was completely in love, completely happy.

Now she had the truth to measure their love by, he knew they came a distant second.

He was glad, and relieved but he was also heartbroken, that she found her love now, and it meant he was no longer the first and best in her life.

It was how it should be but that didn't stop the hurt. Suddenly things had shifted and he was outsider Edward had been just days ago, it was 'them', him and her.

He still had a place but he had abdicated the throne and let his successor step up.

She ran to him and he caught her in his arms.

"Thank you, Marcus," she said, and kissed him deeply.

He wanted to curve his body around her like a metal cage and hold her inside, protecting her from…..him, his love. Edward knew exactly what he was thinking and he stood back, letting the emotional parting happen in front of him. She had moved on, he had made it possible.

They both had.

She skipped from the room to confront his doctor when the man appeared down the hallway.

"You love her more than life itself," he stated to Edward.

"I do," he answered. "Thank you, Marcus. This means more than anything that ever happened to me before."

"And to her. You must always put her first, take care of her, keep her safe, Edward. She is so very precious."

"I know, and I will, I promise."

"I love her so much but I love her enough to let her go and to hand her to you."

"We both love her equally, I would estimate," he answered.

"Yes, we do, Edward, but she loves you more."

He stilled and looked intently at Marcus.

"That's an awesome responsibility, Edward. You could crush her, hurt her so deeply she would never recover. You have to always remember that. Treat her like a precious butterfly, let her stretch her wings and learn to fly but always, always be her soft place to fall. Always be there to catch her and keep her safe."

"I will," he promised.

"Take her with you when you die, Edward. She will recover from my passing, but never from yours. I know you two have a lifetime together, but when it becomes time, go together. Start telling the universe now, you two can never be parted. Put it out there, they will listen."

"Did you do that?" he asked.

"Edward, I didn't because it would have been wrong. I was never her One. You are. It's up to you now, keep her happy, keep her safe and take her with you when you go."

Xx xx xx

"We need to shop," I said as Bella clung to my hand and we walked towards the car. My mind was still buzzing with the words Marcus had said.

It was a massive responsibility, doing all I had promised, but it would be done.

"What are we buying?" she asked.

"Everything we need for the best, most memorable Christmas your son will ever have."

"Edward, it's the end of May."

"Christmas doesn't have to be a date, Bella, it's a feeling and a party and a time of love and family and a time to create memories. We need to do it now. Soon."

She teared up a little as the words hit home.

"For Bailey, love. For Bailey and Marcus."

She bit her lip and nodded.

By December, they will both be mine and I can wait, and I can give the man who gave me the world, one last gift. Christmas with his wife and son.

I had talked to his doctor and the sad truth was, Marcus would not ever be released again. His health was too precarious , he would die if he came home. We would never stop him coming home to die if that was what he chose, but if he could not be around for one last Christmas, then we had to bring Christmas to him.

Bella told me the best toy store in town and we selected gifts for Bailey from Santa. I was surprised to see her buy what the average income person would choose and nothing outlandish, no miniature cars that actually can be driven by the child or custom made anything, just a trike as the main gift and a bunch of kid's toys , action figures and such.

"He's three, Edward, if we start spoiling him now with electronic games and such, what will he ever get to hope for when he gets older? Anticipation and waiting to get something is half the thrill. At the moment he wants a Spiderman mask. That's the type of thing he will be getting."

So, no spoiled brat of rich parents syndrome for this child.

Our last shop was a jewellers and she paused.

"I want Bailey to have something to keep forever from his father. Do you think a watch? With engraving? Obviously he won't be wearing it for years but it has to come from Marcus to be a real memento."

"Great idea,love, do you want to get it now?" I asked.

"No, I just want to look, find some virtually indestructible, but it has to have his father's words , not mine."

We looked and found the best watch and Bella paid them to hold it.

Where to hold Christmas was the dilemma. Marcus would want to come home for it, I suspected, no matter what the cost.

Bella agreed, so we called on Rose and Emmett and Siobhan to help decorate one of the downstairs sitting rooms and Bella had the bed she and Marcus shared in their bedroom brought downstairs and she carefully reproduced their upstairs bedroom in a former guestroom, with every detail exactly copied.

There were workers buzzing about everywhere, new furniture carried upstairs, old furniture carried down, the smell of fresh paint filled the air. Bella was yo-yoing from happy to sad, hopeful to resigned, her mood swings were giving us all whiplash.

Christmas was obviously just part of what she needed to do.

When everything was done, we sat and looked about the room, with it's tree and lights and decorations, and Bailey was bouncing about like a demented squirrel in excitement.

"And Santa is coming? But only to me, not to my friends?" he asked for the twentieth time.

"It's a really special Christmas, Bales, for you and Daddy."

Marcus had immediately insisted he would be coming home, damn the consequences and Jasper and Alice were catering the whole affair.

Saturday June 2nd was now the Volturi Family Christmas Day.

We talked about asking some of his many friends but Bella liked the idea of keeping it small and intimate, like their wedding. She was not a girl for flashy, over-the-top events.

Once Bailey was in bed, Bella and I snuggled down in 'our' bedroom and I spent a few hours just touching her skin. It seemed to be not the time for lovemaking, she was subdued and pensive and much as we were looking forward to celebrating Marcus' last Christmas, it would be good when this special Christmas Day was over.


	7. Chapter 7

The Escort

Chapter 7

We Wish You A Merry Christmas.

PattinsonsDiscoStickIsMine needs the credit for this early Christmas idea, Thanks! My readers rock!

Edward's POV

Bailey was beside himself with excitement as his father was delivered home safely by Emmett and taken into the sunny sitting room. The Christmas room was ready and waiting but Bella had decided to let Marcus rest a little and we would move into the festive room just before lunch, so their son could open his gifts before we ate.

Marcus' color was alarming, his organs were all shutting down fast and he refused to come tethered to a drip. His private nurse, Jane, as a formidable woman but he kept her in control as he sat and hugged his wife and son closely. Rose took a million photos, but unobtrusively, from the other side of the room.

Emmett reigned in his usual enthusiasm but Marcus was keen for things to begin, so we all walked into the gaily decorated room.

Bailey pounced on his Christmas stocking, pulling out items and scattering them all over the floor. Bella had been right, once he came to the Spiderman mask, he lost interest in even looking further, for all he knew the crown jewels could have sat at the toe of the stocking.

"Do I look like Spiderman?" he asked, excitedly.

"Who said that?" asked Emmett, looking around. "Oh, it is Spiderman, I hope he isn't going to catch me and throw me in jail."

Bailey was on him in a flash and he brought Emmett to justice swiftly, wrestling the helpless muscle bound man to the floor and sitting on him to keep him under arrest.

"I have handcuffs.." offered Rose.

Bella frowned at her and slapped the top of Rose' arm.

"Fluffy, no doubt. I still can't get the whole five pairs thing."

Marcus looked at Rose and smirked. She laughed back.

"Oh the innocence of Isabella," Rose sighed.

"I hope you never know, my sweet, " added Marcus. He was watching me closely and I kept my distance from both Bella and Bailey. This was his party, his day.

Gifts were exchanged and gushed over and Alice and Jasper joined in, handing out their own presents. Bailey was thrilled by everything. Alice had bought him an entire Spiderman outfit so that was pulled on over his clothes and we lunched in the company of a superhero, who refused to eat broccoli.

I always suspected it was never meant for human, even superhuman, consumption.

Alice and Jasper sat on my side of the table so I chatted to them and listened to Alice's amusing tales of outings she and Bella had been on.

"I mean, Edward, the only reason possible for a woman to hate shopping is because she can't afford all the nice things she sees, right? That's reasonable. But Bella, she could buy out any store and does she? It's like pulling teeth, getting her to buy anything for herself. She is a little better about dressing Bailey in quality gear, but when it comes to her wardrobe, she seems to think hoodies are clothing. And once I showed her the new Choos and do you know what she said ? 'I already have a pair of red shoes, Alice.' I mean, yes, she does, but these are Jimmy Choos! They are not 'shoes'. What is wrong with the woman?"

She really was a woman after my own heart. Lauren had to have every new shoe style in every available color, fortunately her father was the one picking up the tab so I had no say and the boxes of shoes that filled an entire room were worn once and deemed out of date and the shoe shopping spree was back on. I couldn't believe her attitude, as she stepped over the homeless and complained they should lay somewhere else out of her sight, so inconvenient to have to swerve around them, she was a busy woman.

She chided me whenever I handed them money, complaining I refused to buy her diamonds yet I was happy to 'toss away my meagre earnings on bums'. Her compassion was overwhelming.

We all ate heartily but I noticed Marcus really just moved the food around on his plate and ate little. He looked his age and more, now. He was clearly getting close to the end.

Bella stood and announced she had a gift for Marcus. I couldn't even begin to think about what a wife gave a dying man, whatever it was, he would not have it for long.

She slid her dress off her shoulders, and turned her back to him.

There in neat copperplate, was a tattoo. It was a heart, with Marcus & Bella written across the widest part at the top, and Bailey's name beneath it.

Everyone stood still and hid their tears, though Siobhan didn't bother, and she grabbed Bella into her arms.

"Careful!" Bella warned flinching. I had to stamp down the instinct to rush to her side and make sure the woman was not hurting her.

"Still tender," she explained.

Marcus stood, with effort, and folded his wife into his arms and kissed her face.

"Thank you, my dear."

"You will always be in my heart, Marcus," she told him.

He sat down and pulled her beside him. He handed her a card and inside was a check that made her eyes light up and she grinned and kissed him.

"Thank you, so much," she said, surprising me. She was happy he gave her money. She saw my expression and handed me the check.

It was made out to the local homeless shelter and was quite a sizable donation, in Bella's name. That made sense.

Marcus then gave Bailey his 'big boys watch' to keep until he was older, and a smaller version which he attached to the child's wrist.

A knock sounded at the door, and Bella looked up, annoyed.

"That would be for me," announced Marcus. Siobhan answered the door and grinned when she walked back in holding a pair of small, wriggly golden Labrador puppies.

She handed them to Marcus and he handed one to Bailey, and one to Bella and they both squealed in joy.

"This pair will keep you company and remind you always of the lucky old man who got to share your lives. I love you both, dearly."

I felt myself want to cry and walked outside for some air. Bailey put his pup on the grass and we played with it, rolling a small ball along the ground as the animal tried to mouth it.

"What are you going to name him?" I asked the boy.

"I dunno, what's his name, Dad?"

Marcus stood unsteadily at the French door.

"I was hoping he could be named Volturi."

"That's our name but," said Bailey.

Marcus sat down on a garden chair and pulled his son in close.

"One day, Edward here is going to marry your Mommy and her name will change to Cullen, and I want him to adopt you and become your new Daddy, so your name will be Bailey Chace Marcus Volturi Cullen. That's a big name, but you will be a big, important man one day son, and you will be part of both your fathers. So, I thought the puppy should be Volturi, what do you think?"

"Okay," agreed Bailey, running off and luring the dog closer with a piece of turkey. "Volturi, come here."

Bella came out with her pup and placed it on the lawn.

"So, what's my dog's name, husband?" she asked.

"Angel," he answered, smiling at her.

Bella blushed.

"Marcus used to call me Angel when we first met, the Angel Of The Library," she explained to me.

"How fitting," I answered.

His idea was good, giving them both pets that would keep him in their minds every time they called the dogs names. Labs live, what twelve years? Bailey would always know his dog was a gift from his father.

Jane appeared and insisted Marcus take his many medications and lay down on a sun lounger, and she put pillows under his head. He protested but looked glad to be laying down and Bella lay right beside him. His wasted frame and her tiny one fit easily together on the one lounger.

It was strange, watching the woman who belonged to me with her husband but I didn't feel jealous, just kind of left out, like I should be laying on her other side.

I grinned, I was getting too possessive and it was not the time.

Not yet.

She was still his, academically, for a little while yet.

I didn't want him to die but I did want her to be all mine, and mine alone.

I was such a selfish creature.

I played with Bailey while they slept, snuggled together and when the pups were put to bed for a nap, Alice and Rose and I played simple card games with Bailey, which he won fair and square. The kid was bright.

Alice and Jasper served an early dinner then headed back to their restaurant, after we all promised to eat there on Friday nights, now they had set up a theme night each week.

Rose and I bathed Bailey and took him downstairs in his pyjamas so his father could read his bedtime story to him. It was touching, seeing the older man hold the boy on his lap and read with such passion and intensity.

Then Emmett took the child up to his bed, and no doubt, was talked into 'just one more' story.

I wasn't sure what to do with myself, and soon Bella announced she and Marcus were going to bed, and she helped Jane help him into the replica bedroom at the end of the hallway.

Jane came out and grabbed the overnight bag and bustled back into the bedroom, and Bella slipped out and came straight to me, throwing her arms around my waist.

"Edward, this is going to be my last night in my husband's bed. Just know, I love you, and I will be back with you tomorrow night, but I have to do this. I will miss you, even for just one night, believe me."

I kissed her and cupped her face.

"You are mine already but you are still his, for now. I love you. I will miss you too. I will sleep upstairs in our room so I hear Bailey if he wakes in the night. Goodnight, my love."

She clung to me and looked suspiciously teary eyed.

"Goodnight, Edward."

She was gone.

I went and said Goodnight to Rose and Siobhan, who were tidying away the smaller decorations as Emmett dismantled the tree.

I lay on the bed we shared and tried not to picture what may be going on downstairs. Chances are, they are just cuddling, I assured myself.

But what would I be doing if I were Marcus? I would be using my hands or my mouth, whatever part of me did work, to bring my wife all the pleasure I could, this one last time. I would not ask, and she would not tell me, it was their business. Would she reciprocate? Would her beautiful lips be around his…

I slapped myself mentally.

This way lies madness.

Just let it go, and sleep.

I slept.

But in my dream, when I went downstairs in the morning, everyone was happy and celebrating.

"What has happened?" I asked.

"A miracle. Marcus woke up and he is thirty years old and strong and healthy again." Siobhan announced.

Rose and Emmett were clapping hands, Alice was bouncing about like she had been all day today, Jasper was singing and playing guitar.

I felt myself starting to disappear. She didn't need me now, I was surplus to her needs.

I felt my body being sucked into a vacuum, and just as I was about to disappear, Bella held out her hand and caught mine.

She saved me.

I sat up and shook my head. Of course she saved me, hadn't she done that multiple times already?

I showered and shaved and went downstairs after checking and finding Bailey's bed vacant. Everyone was standing in the lobby, even Jasper and Alice. Emmett had Bailey, still clad in his pj's, in his massive arms.

Bella was nowhere in sight.

"What has happened?" I asked, with a sense of déjà vu'.

"Marcus died in the night," said Siobhan, crying silently.

I pulled her into my arms and rubbed her back.


	8. Chapter 8

The Escort

_I just want you close_  
_where you can stay forever_  
_you can be sure_  
_that it will only get better_

_You and me together_  
_through the days and nights_  
_I don't worry cause_  
_everything's gonna be alright_

_People keep talking_  
_They could say what they like_  
_but all I know is_  
_everything's gonna be alright._

Chapter 8

So Long, Farewell and Goodbye

Edward's POV

Bella finally came out of the downstairs bedroom and I let Siobhan go and held out my arms to her. She walked slowly into them and hugged me tightly.

"He died in his sleep. I didn't even know, I was just in the bathroom for a minute and I came back and Jane was standing over him, and she told me he had died."

"He died happy, Bella. He spent his last night in your bed, with you. What better way to go? Better than the hospital, love."

The body was taken away and Rose took over the household, seeing Siobhan was in no shape to. Emmett took charge of his mother and took her home, so his father could comfort her.

Bailey was confused, happy with the pup then his face would fall as he remembered. Bella lay beside me on the chaise lounge and just let me hold her as she cried, on and off.

"It was how he wanted to go, you are right," she said.

Her upper back was tender and I insisted we shower together and I washed her new tattoo gently and patted it dry. It was about 5 inches square. After thirty minutes, I smeared the salve on and checked it was fully covered.

We spent the day just sitting together, and she talked on the phone a lot, and I fed the pups and the child and ourselves, and Rose cleaned vigorously, trying to work out her grief.

I let her be, she would tire and collapse eventually but we all grieve in our own ways. Emmett mowed the vast expanse of lawn and gardened, with Siobhan at his side on and off, whenever she called him to bring her here so she could do something.

I was not sure if Bella would want to come back into our bed, or if she would want to sleep downstairs, in the other bedroom, but she smiled gently and walked upstairs with me, pausing at the door to a bedroom I had not seen before. It wasn't her bedroom she had shared with Marcus, just a guestroom.

"This is our bedroom. Merry Christmas, Edward," she said, pulling me inside.

It was an enormous, airy room, as all the bedrooms here were. It's bathroom had double sinks and an enormous shower, so I was happy.

Our bedroom.

She did need me, and I would be there for her.

Of course, it was a night of tears and goodbyes and restless catnapping but finally she slept in my arms and I fell asleep myself.

The days that followed were blurring into one another, so we started a routine. Feed the pups, feed the humans, walk the dogs, answer phonecalls.

Siobhan was back and determined to keep working. She had been with Marcus for over thirty years and was not about to let him down now. Bella was quiet and worried about the funeral and the future and how she would cope but she shared her fears with me and didn't close herself off, so I was sure we would find a way to cope together.

She stayed openly affectionate with her gentle touches and occasional sweet, chaste kisses which I accepted and returned now and then. She needed space but not too much. She needed support and reassurance. She needed me.

The funeral was enormous and had so many people attending , it was impossible to remember names. I was introduced as Marcus' and Bella's friend, and I held Bella as she stood beside the burial plot. I didn't care myself what anyone there concluded about our relationship but I needed her to be able to retain her dignity and not have anyone whispering about what may be between us. I was quiet, and didn't kiss her or hold her in a way that betrayed anything but one man looked at me throughout the service and approached me later when Bella was with Siobhan and Dougal.

He was tall, well over six foot, and built like Emmett almost. He was clearly native American, and his long black hair was remarkable. I envied him, such beautiful hair I kept thinking then reminding myself he was male and I was straight.

"Jacob Black," he said, holding out his hand.

I was shocked. Bella had barely mentioned him and had not warned me how beautiful the man was. She slept with this man for over three years and never bonded with him? I had a feeling almost any other woman would have. His eyes were very dark and shiny and his teeth were so blindingly white, I blinked when he smiled.

"So, you are?" he prompted.

"Sorry, I am Edward Cullen."

"Another of Aro's men?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I am, though this is my first and last assignment. I must call Aro and quit, thanks for the reminder."

He looked confused.

"Are you not liking your time with Bella because I can probably fill in until she gets another escort? I don't actually work any more, I quit, but Isabella is a special lady and I know she hates the very idea of having to allow too many different men in her bed. It took me months to get to the point where she would even sleep with me. I know she only did it for Marcus, so I suppose…is she terminating you now he is dead? I don't want to see that happen, she will close herself off and hide away from the world. And she is a very sensuous woman, try as she might to pretend otherwise."

I didn't know how to answer, I could hardly announce at Marcus' funeral that Bella and I were in love and intended to be together, tonight, every night from now on but not in the way we met. That was a long ended agreement in my eyes, I was with her because I loved her dearly.

I suppose, when I think about it, she is still paying Aro, and he is probably paying me.

My cellphone buzzed and I excused myself to answer it.

"Edward," a familiarly annoying voice said.

"Lauren," I acknowledged.

"So, you cancelled our credit card."

"I did."

"But you left the household account open. Am I allowed to use that money?"

Why not, she was my wife, legally, for another month or two, until the divorce was final.

"You may. Just remember, I am not made of money and your father allows you a lot more leeway than I do, keep it reasonable and don't go crazy. There isn't much in the account, anyway."

"So, I can use whatever's there?"

"Fine. But I am only going to deposit how much I think you need, not want, Lauren."

"Fine, that's all I wanted to know."

She hung up.

Bella had walked towards me and been waylaid by Jacob so I hurried over to hear what she said to him.

He looked stunned and his eyes flicked to mine as I approached.

"We have Marcus' blessing, Jacob. He wanted this," she said.

I placed my arm around her waist to demonstrate my support.

"I'm just surprised, shocked, actually," he said, clearly confused how she had bonded instantly with me and yet not with him after all the time they had spent together. And by the look in his eyes, he was none too pleased.

I could understand, I would be gutted if she was sleeping with me and had no feelings for me at all. Even by now, I would want her to like me and want to be with me, not just allow me into her bed because she was paying for my services.

The wake was held at AJ's and Bella was pleased when we finally slipped away and headed home. She took her outer clothing off and lay in our new bed, and I did the same, just rolling her so her head rested on my chest and our bodies touched right down to our toes.

Bailey was staying with friends for the night but Bella kept her cellphone beside the bed in case he changed his mind and wanted to come home to us.

He had appeared only briefly at the funeral and not at the wake at all. Bella decided he was too young and didn't need to be any more confused.

I gently ran my fingertips all over her body, wherever I could reach, letting her feel the comfort of my touch and asking for nothing back in return. She was all mine and I would take care of her, and be here for her. She was feeling Marcus' loss intensely, and I knew she would want me again one day. I would be waiting, always ready, always what she needed me to be.

We both slept all night but mostly from emotional exhaustion and when I woke up, she was still asleep.

Bailey stood at our doorway.

"Daddy said you are my new Daddy now," he stated, his lip quivering.

I opened the covers and invited him into our bed, letting him lie between us.

"I am your friend, and you don't have to call me Daddy unless one day, you decide you want to. I am Edward still, you call me whatever you want to."

He was soothed by that and tucked his small body against his mother's.

She automatically opened her arm and pulled him in close, then sleepily opened an eye.

I kissed her quickly, on her forehead and climbed out of bed, glad I was wearing my boxers.

The pups were barking and I let them outside and they tumbled together, falling over one another and their own unsteady legs.

"Good morning, Angel and Volturi," I said to them.

I sat and thought about the last things Marcus wanted me to do.

Marry Bella.

Adopt Bailey.

I couldn't even suggest those things until she was ready and how would I know when that time was right?

She needed time to grieve and yet she needed hope for the future. I needed to give her both. I wandered around the property and wondered what Bella would decide to do. She seemed to like this place and it was Bailey's home, it would not be a good idea to sell it yet. The child needed as much to remain the same and give him a sense of stability and normalcy.

I could probably not even afford the upkeep on a place this big. It must cost a fortune, and although Bella now had a fortune, I wanted to contribute something, anything.

I walked inside and grabbed my phone.

"Instant Kama, Aro speaking."

"Edward Cullen here. I imagine you know already what I am going to say," I said.

"Let me guess, the beautiful Isabella is keeping you on permanently now, until she meets a more suitable new husband to marry."

I paused, shocked.

"I called to say I quit. I will be staying with Bella but not as a paid companion. I am staying out of choice, hers and mine."

"Really, Edward, how interesting. Take my advice and don't assume anything. She was married to a billionaire for over five years, she will hardly be able to settle for a man with a failing business and massive debt which he has not worked long enough to make any sort of dent in."

I had no desire to tell him Bella had paid out my debts.

God, it sounded so shoddy somehow. The little time I had been here and I owed her so much already and now I intended living with her, in his house, now her house, not even paying my own way?

"Anyway, please consider me no longer in your employ. Thank you."

"Whatever you wish, Edward. Please remember, I have many lonely ladies on my books, far more than I can ever get enough escorts for, so if you need a little part-time job, just to pull in some extra cash….."

I hung up the phone.

I wanted to pay my way and contribute but not at any cost. Better I let go of my pride than cheated on the woman who was my world now.

I called my office and talked to Ben. The patent was done, and production had begun. I approved the financing for the advertising campaign and promised to get into work as soon as things got a little less hectic here. I can trust Ben completely and I know he will do as good a job as I would.

"Anything urgent?" I asked.

"No, it's all going smooth as silk. Oh, your accountant called a couple of times. Something about Lauren wanting the daily limited increased on your household account and him not thinking it is a good idea."

I frowned. As far as I knew, the daily limit was around $500, why would she need more than that? I was paying household expenses, not shopping sprees.

I booted my laptop and my mouth gaped as I started at the total in the deposits column.

$804,500.

Clearly a mistake, a big mistake.

I called my accountant.

"Edward, good to hear from you. Lauren wants to up the daily limit to 5 grand, or more. She asked for a $20,000 daily limit and I refused on your behalf and told her I will get back to her about a revision of the limit."

"Well, I know there should be around six or seven grand in there, yet my balance is sitting at $804,500 so you need to sort that out fast before she drains it and puts me back in the red again," I informed him.

"There's no mistake, Edward. The deposit from your father's business insurance went through , $800,000. You can bet Lauren is doing her best to get her hands on every cent of it. I suggest transferring it to your business account, where it should have been deposited in the first place."

"Edward Snr had business insurance? How much more am I going to be surprised by now he is dead? I had no idea."

"Your father was an astute businessman, Edward, he would never have risked leaving you in debt."

"But none of this came up at the reading of his Will."

"That's because it's your business as well as his, it wasn't an asset to be inherited, just an insurance payout for a business dealing that failed. The money is there, and you need to move it now, Edward."

I transferred the balance into the work expenses account. I left nothing for my wife to grab, and not only that, she can make the $3,500 she already took cover her household expenses until the divorce goes through.

Time for a little visit to Casa Lauren.

I took a tray upstairs that Siobhan had prepared for Bella and Bailey and kissed her on the forehead.

"Be back soon, just need a word with a certain female."

The house was locked and my front door key no longer fit.

I knocked and rang the doorbell. Lauren opened the door and her eyes immediately showed guilt.

"So, Edward. What can I do for you?" she asked warily.

"Maybe explain how a payout meant to bail out the business ended up in the household account for a start," I suggested.

"Some man called. I didn't know where you were, how was I supposed to reach you? I told him to deposit the money in our account."

"The one account you could bleed dry. You never cease to amaze me, your father gives you thousands of dollars whenever you ask him to, yet you feel the need to take the money meant to save my business? That's a new low for you, Lauren. You have no idea what that debt pushed me to do."

I shook with anger, had I known this money was coming, I would never have joined Aro's company.

Not that I regret meeting Bella, but how much sweeter had we met under normal conditions. This was hardly a story to tell the grandkids. Grandpa was Grandma's paid companion, while she was married to her first husband. Grandpa took money to sleep with her.

Grandpa was a whore.

Not only that but Grandma had to pay his debts and bail him out of financial ruin.

"I trust we will never have to see each other again, though I shall look forward to the final decree. Goodbye, Lauren," I said, walking out of the house I once lived in, feeling nothing but relief it was now just a blip in my past history.

A five year long mistake.

Bella and I ate lunch with Bailey and Siobhan, she had abandoned all pretence of being Bella's handmaiden and looked older, tireder.

Emmett and Rose served lunch and we all sat and I listened as they each spoke lovingly about the man I barely knew, who had accepted me and changed my world.

Emmett and Rose volunteered to take his mother and Bailey out for the afternoon, so we waved the four of them off and returned to our bedroom.

Bella lay on the bed.

I stood beside her and sorted out what I wanted to say.

"Bella, I received an insurance payout for $800,000 and want to pay you back for part of what you lent me."

She frowned.

"I paid for a half interest in your company, I didn't give you a loan," she answered.

"We both know the business is not worth anything like that amount. I appreciate what you did but this money is morally yours. I want you to take it."

"Edward, use it to get this solar battery thing on the market. We can talk about who gets what in the eventual profit share but I don't want that money back. Please keep it, use it."

I sighed.

"I don't want money to come between us. I feel so dirty about being paid to be with you, to tell you the truth. I want us to be a normal couple, not some rich woman hiring some toy."

"Have I ever paid you for your services? Remember, the 1.2 mill was completely a business contact," she answered.

"I presume you pay Aro and he pays me," I answered.

"So, you have money in your account from Aro?" she questioned.

"Actually, I didn't see any when I was checking to see what Lauren had spent," I replied.

"That's because I got you on a week's free trial and never paid Aro one cent yet. He left it to me to determine how much I wanted to pay for your attention."

"And how much did you decided?"

"I terminated the agreement days ago and he and I agreed I owed him $8,000. Pay him that and you have never actually been my paid companion," she suggested.

I grinned. That would be $8,000 I would be happy to pay.

Bella gave me Aro's bank details and I made the online deposit, clearly stating the money was coming from the account of Edward Anthony Cullen, to cover the amount owed by Isabella Marie Volturi, and I added an email telling him of the payment, and confirming I no longer worked for him.

Bella added her own email, thanking him for past services rendered and asking him to remove her name from his books.

I felt a lot better now. My little venture into prostitution was over before it even began.

No matter what the future held, I would never be going down that road again. It had taught me a lot, about myself, about self respect, about the women I judged so harshly before.

Maybe we are just a planet full of lonely people, looking to make a connection any way we can. I no longer see what Marcus arranged for his wife as wrong or disgusting, it was a measure of his love for her. I could never be man enough to do something like that myself, I was far too selfish, but she deserved to be happy and I understood his motives. He knew she would not want meaningless couplings, she would want a real relationship, and he had found me for her.

Bella opened her arms, her clothing had somehow vanished.

I stripped off and lay beside her.

"Now we can really begin, Edward. I love you," she whispered . "Maybe we can begin with comfort sex and move up to wild and wonderful tonight? Claim us back."

I wondered if that meant she had indulged in sex of some sort with Marcus that last night. I didn't want to know. I wanted her and she wanted me and that was all that mattered.

I stroked her body softly and kissed her neck, working my way down her body.

Nipples, so sweet, so delicious, so pebbled and hard and soft at the same time.

I sucked one inside my mouth and rolled it with my tongue.

Bella was smiling as she stroked my head, her fingers ruffling my hair, her nails scratching against my scalp, making my body shiver and ache for more of her.

I moved lower, my mouth sucking on her skin, leaving tiny red telltale marks as I descended.

Her mound was there, right at my mouth so I eased my tongue between her folds and licked her clit, making her moan and buck against me. God, she had no idea how much she turns me on when she is like this. I licked and stroked and ploughed between the folds of skin that kept her sweet core from me, pushing my tongue inside her sex, tasting her true sweetness.

Out again, seeking that clit, that so responsive bundle of nerves that quivered under my tongue.

I sucked it inside my mouth and really went for it, lashing it wildly with my tongue as she shivered and shook inside my mouth.

I felt her come and licked it once last time before licking her core and catching her honey as she pulsed and released it into my mouth.

I had never tasted another woman, never felt the need. I guess sex had always been about me until I met Isabella. I was regretful for the selfish way I had been with Lauren and my other ladies but they had never made me want this, want to feel them pulse on my tongue, want to taste their juices as they orgasmed, it was her and her alone who made me want more, everything, I just wanted to have her in every way possible. She was mine. We had both wasted time with other people but that time had passed, now it was me and her forever.

I licked her clit and heard her hiss, as my tongue pushed her past sensitive and into almost unbearable.

"Breathe, Bella," I suggested quietly and worked my tongue again, softly as she shrank back, then the feeling passed and she started to rock against me as I licked her a little more forcefully. I kept it very low key, very soft and gentle, despite her urging for more.

I pointed my tongue and circled her clit with it, moving in then backing off.

She smiled and relaxed the closer I went and she stiffened and sighed when I went further away.

"Be Patient, little kitten," I whispered.

I licked her clit again and again until I heard her breathing change and felt her urgency, then I stopped and circled instead.

"Edward!" she groaned. "More."

"Have you been a good girl?" I asked and she nodded.

"How good?"

"Very, very fucking good!" she hissed crossly.

I licked her again until she was so close even I could taste it. I stopped completely and my hair took the punishment as she reached down and pulled it roughly, and pushed my face back against her.

"Naughty kitty cat," I sighed and began again.

She was ready to explode in no time so I let her come on my tongue and once again, licked her sweetness away as she poured out her ambrosia for me. I quietly lapped and let her come back down slowly.

She suddenly rolled away and escaped from me.

"Bella" I growled. My erection was clearly there, she was not avoiding me now.

She walked to the bedside drawer and pulled out one of the bags from Desir' that Rose had handed over that day. She revealed five pairs of fluffy handcuffs.

Oh shit.

I lay back and allowed her to attach them to my hands and ankles and I was tethered to the brass bed at all four corners.

She held the fifth pair up and furrowed her brow in question.

"Don't ask me," I sighed. "I have never played with restraints of any sort."

She tossed the spare pair beside the bed and sat between my legs, licking her lips.

I became harder than ever and felt pre cum leak at my tip as she stared at me and placed her forefinger into her mouth and began licking, sucking, swirling her tongue.

She popped it out loudly and leaned closer to where I wanted her and I relaxed and shut my eyes and sighed in contentment.

"Who's the kitten now, I swear you are purring," she said.

She leaned in and licked the juice from my tip and swirled it around my head with the point of her tongue.

Yes, yes, baby.

I was fully encased in her mouth and she started working me, swirling, sucking, scraping her teeth carefully against my shaft.

"Yes, baby, God Yes, I love you, Bella," I moaned and chanted as she sucked and licked.

My stomach started to clench and she felt my eagerness and a hand rolled my sac.

Gently.

So gently.

I think I was in Heaven, well, I would be any second.

She suddenly pulled away and sat back on her heels and blew her breath across my wet dick, making it feel cool.

"Now, this is how we play the game? Bring you to the brink then leave you hanging. I guess it could be fun," she giggled, watching me sigh out loud and squirm.

"Bella, I read it makes a woman's orgasm so much better, if you bring her close then deny release until the third time and I did get you off first, before I started," I pointed out.

"Does it apply to men as well?" she asked.

"I doubt it, all it does to men is make their balls turn blue and hurt a lot."

"I read that was a lie men told to make us feel guilty for not giving in to them, they actually can survive blue balls," she chuckled. "Let's see if that's true."

"Bella, if this is comfort sex, I am not very comforted," I pointed out.

She kissed my dick again and climbed on top of me and lowered herself onto me.

"Stay very still. I just want to try one thing," she ordered, so I lay still.

She rode me hard but when I arched and pushed in deeper she stopped and refused to move until I was still again. Then she started so I fought with all my strength and let her excite me to the point of no return and I pumped inside her, over and over.

"How long until we can make a baby, Edward? Do we wait a year, for them, so they think we started after the proper period of mourning, or do we just allow it to happen for us? Do you want us to start a baby?"

"I want every single experience possible with you, Bella, including babies and marriage and I don't care what order things happen in. My divorce will be final soon, so we can be married the minute you say the word. I love you, I want forever with you. Is that what you want ?"

"I want more than forever, I want eternity. I never want us to be parted. Til death us do part? No, Edward, I have been widowed once and it won't happen again. We live together, we love together, we die together when that time comes, promise me?"

"I promise, my love, I swear."

I have no idea how we will end but if she goes first, I will be right behind her. The minute her heart stops beating mine will too.

This completeness, this making us both whole, it can never end, never leave one of us alone to grieve. We are one, and we will leave this life that way.

People may talk, sure, if a baby turns up in only nine months time but what they say cannot hurt us.

She is mine just as I am hers.

What will be, will be.

The End

x x x x x x x x x x x

_I know some people search the world_

_to find something like what we have_

_I know people will try to divide something so real_

_So til the end of time I'm telling you there ain't no-one_

_No one, no one, no one_

_Can get in the way of what I'm feeling_

_No one, no one, no one,_

_Can get in the way of what I feel for you._

_No-one by Alicia Keys but covered so much better by The Baseballs._


End file.
